Village councilor accused of mauling boy charged in court

A BARANGAY councilor from Minglanilla town, southern Cebu, is facing charges in court for allegedly mauling a 15-year-old boy seven years ago.

The Office of the the Ombudsman in the Visayas charged Eleno Ong, a councilor in barangay Lipata, for slight physical injuries.

The boy said the councilor mauled him after accusing the boy of stealing mangoes from a public high school.

Ong denied  hitting the minor and said he responded to  a theft alarm and just brought the boy  with him to the barangay hall

In his complaint, the boy said  he and five friends went to the Lipata National High School to pick mangoes at 8 p.m. of May 25, 2005.

The boy said he just watched his  friends pick  the fruit. They later  went to a basketball court and watched  a gay pageant.

Moments later, Ong and his neighbor, Hospicio Mago, arrived.

The other boys ran off. When the neighbor pointed to him as the one who picked the mangoes,  Ong confronted him, punching him in the belly and elbowing  him in the chest.

The boy said Ong brought him to the barangay hall where he was repeatedly punched in the face.

Lipata barangay captain Wilfredo Deiparine and another councilor stopped the mauling, the boy said.

The boy’s  medical certificate showed he had bruises in his face and  suffered body aches for  three to five days. /UP Intern Peter L. Romanillos