Suspects so young yet so murderous

Lawmen found themselves dealing with very young crime suspects in separate incidents in Taguig and Quezon City this week.

An 11-year-old boy has been tagged in the death of a 9-year-old child whose body was retrieved in an excavation site in Taguig, while a teenager has been arrested and charged with killing a police informant and wounding an officer in Quezon City.

Monaim Dodig, 18, underwent inquest proceedings Thursday night for murder, frustrated murder and illegal possession of firearms after allegedly figuring in Tuesday’s shoot-out that killed Denis Vann Pineda and wounded PO3 Frederick Gracilla.

The Quezon City police said the teenaged Dodig is the son of Rizalino Zatar, an alleged gang leader in Barangay Central who was facing arrest for robbery. Dodig was allegedly part of the group led by his father who fired at a police team who was out to serve the warrant.

Gracilla, 36, pointed to Dodig as the person who shot him and Pineda, a 23-year-old police “asset” in the drug trade, during an encounter around 2:45 p.m. Tuesday on Cadena de Amor Street

The chief investigator on the case, SPO4 Leonardo Pascu, said the encounter stemmed from Pineda’s last feed to the Kamuning police station about the presence of Zatar and several armed men in the slum area that afternoon.

The informant, he said, agreed to go with plainclothesmen, including Gracilla, who went to arrest the armed men. But Zatar’s group learned of the police team’s arrival and fired at the lawmen, killing Pineda and wounding Gracilla in the back and leg.

Zatar fled after the encounter while Dodig was arrested in a follow-up operation. Police said he was caught carrying a .45-cal. pistol when captured.

In Taguig, an 11-year-old boy has been placed in the custody of social workers after he “confessed” to his mother about a bullying incident that resulted in the death of another boy in Fort Bonifacio.

The body of the 9-year-old victim was fished out of an excavation site at a construction area on 26th Street on Wednesday, after barangay officials learned that he was pushed by the older boy into the pit three days earlier.

Authorities learned of the case only after the victim, a second grader, was reported missing by his family.

The victim was last seen with a playmate at the Hi-Build construction site around noon on Sunday when the suspect and another boy tried to bully them into coughing up money, police said.

“When the victims refused and resisted, the suspect mauled the victim and pushed him into the excavation area filled with rain water,” Taguig police chief Senior Supt. Tomas Apolinario said in a report.

Residents and the police searched the excavation site for hours with the aid of snorkels before finding the victim’s body in the murky water, Apolinario said.

When the police confronted the suspect’s family, the latter voluntarily surrendered the boy, he said.

“Though the suspect may be exempt from criminal liability because he is a minor, his family should still be held liable for damages,” Southern Police District Director chief Supt. Benito Estipona said. “This is a disturbing case,” he said.

Estipona and Apolinario also called for an investigation focusing on the owners or managers of the construction site for their possible liability.

“Why are children even allowed to play there?” Estipona said.