Parents rapped for tying boy to cart

A ONE-year-old boy was rescued by police after he was found tied to a wooden pushcart in barangay Looc, Mandaue City.

A strip of cloth was tied to the boy’s sleeveless shirt on one end and the wooden cart on the other.

The mother, who is six months pregnant, told police that she and her partner left him behind tied to the cart so he wouldn’t wander off and get lost while they went out scavenging for junk.

Liza Gomez, 39, a native of Danao City, said they didn’t know that was considered illegal.

The mother said they were afraid the boy would wander in the streets and get hit by passing vehicles.

The family don’t have a house and sleep in the wooden push cart.

Both  parents were  apprehended by police and could be charged with child abuse, said SPO1 Rowena Parilla of the Women and Children’s Protection Desk of the Mandaue City Police Office.

A concerned citizen called up the police about the boy’s situation, said Insp. Ramil Morpos, chief of the Subangdaku police.

Gomez and the boy’s father Genie Alsola, 34, of Malabuyoc, Cebu were o brought to the police station for profiling and were later turned over to the Department of Social Welfare Services in Mandaue City.

“I understand the mother did it in good faith but it was not the proper way of treating the child,” said Parilla.

Boy Bacolod, social worker of DSWD, said the couple will undergo counseling./CORRESPONDENT NORMAN V. MENDOZA