13 minors bolt juvenile detention center in Cebu City

SECOND CHANCE Operation Second Chance Center, operated by the Cebu City government, is a facility for children in conflict with the law who require rehabilitation. —CEBU DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTO

CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines — Police officers have started searching for 13 children in conflict with the law (CICL) who escaped from a juvenile facility in Barangay Kalunasan, Cebu City, on Sunday evening.

Seven others had also escaped with the 13 minor offenders but surrendered on Monday morning, said Maj. Jonathan de la Cerna, chief of the Guadalupe Police Station in the city.

Most of the 20 CICLs who escaped from Operation Second Chance Center, were allegedly involved in illegal drugs, theft and robbery, he said.

The center, operated by the city government in the village of Kalunasan, offers a rehabilitation system for minors who got involved in criminal activities and were barred by law to be placed in regular jails.

“These minors really planned the mass escape. They rushed straight to the gate bringing with them pieces of wood. The guard was overwhelmed,” Dela Cerna told reporters here.

Ambrosio Ibones, who heads the city-run center, said the mass escape happened after a minor complained of difficulty in breathing, which prompted personnel of the facility to bring the boy to a hospital at past 8 p.m. on Sunday.

“As the boy, together with personnel of the [center], was about to leave the facility, a group of children from the inside suddenly rushed outside, slammed into the guard and the house parent. The guard and house parents were overwhelmed and lost control of the children,” Ibones said.

Ibones appealed to parents and guardians of the 13 CICL to surrender their children to the facility or the police if they happened to go back to their homes.

In 2019, six minors also escaped from the facility to spend Christmas with their families.

—NESTLE SEMILLA

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