Mabilog wants minors home by 10 p.m.
Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog yesterday ordered the strict enforcement of curfew for minors to ensure peace and order in the city.
Mabilog said police stations should sound off their sirens every 10 p.m. to signal the start of curfew which lasts until 4 a.m.
He also directed personnel of the Iloilo City Police Office to monitor party places like Smallville and Treñas Boulevard as well as entertainment establishments and internet cafes where minors usually stay until dawn.
Mabilog’s order came on the heels of reports that minors who are members of criminal gang True Brown Style 13 are involved in the robbing and killing of taxi drivers in Iloilo City.
Gov. Arthur Defensor Sr., for his part, said that in Iloilo province, it is the prerogative municipal governments to enforce the curfew for minors in their respective localities.
The TBS 13 gang is reportedly conducting a massive recruitment of members from other towns in the province.
Meanwhile, Defensor acknowledged that minors are being used by adults to do criminal acts including drug trade because there is a law – the Comprehensive Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 – that prevents young people below 18 from being charged and imprisoned.
“Policemen should run after the adults who are tolerating and using minors,” he said.*MGC
