Hospital bills rise for 14-year-old gunshot victim

Someone has to pay for his hospital bills.

But like Saturday’s shooting incident that landed him in the hospital,  it’s not clear who will take responsibilty.

The 14-year-old boy who was shot in the head by another boy in a billiard hall in barangay Suba-Pasil survived surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain.

“The patient is already awake. He is under bladder-training. He is already conscious. His vital signs are already stable,” said Dr. Gloria Duterte, hospital director of the Cebu City Medical Center.

Deciding whether to file criminal charges in a case where the Juvenile Justice Law protects young offenders, takes a back seat to financial needs.

What worries the family of 14-year-old Mark Rey Abaño are the unpaid hospital bills piling up and prospects that his motor functions will not fully return to normal.

They received P5,000 from the mother of the 11-year-old shooter but the surgery alone cost P22,000.

“We still have an unpaid  balance of P17,000,” said Marie Ann Abejo, aunt and guardian of the boy victim, when Cebu Daily News visited the hospital.

She said Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama provided a wheel chair and some food for the patient but they would need P20,000 to P30,000 to cover the hospital bills and medicine of Mark Rey.

Abejo, an agency-hired field researcher, skipped work for several days to watch over her nephew who is supposed to enroll in grade 4 next month.

The boy, the eldest of three children, sustained a gunshot wound in the top of his head on the right side.  The bullet exited at the back.

Police are at a loss how to file a case after the mother surrendered her 11-year-old son and the .38 caliber revolver used in the crime, a horrific result of unsupervised gunplay.

GUN OWNERSHIP

What were children doing playing in a billiard hall?

The mother claimed her son just found the gun in the billiard hall and didn’t mean to shoot Mark Rey, who was a  schoolmate.

Police said neighbors recognize the gun as a weapon owned by the boy’s father who disappeared with his son right after the shooting, but no one is willing to sign an affidavit about gun ownership.

CDN learned that the victim, Mark Rey, worked part-time as an errand boy in the billiard hall, and would often hang around there.

He was still a one-year-old infant when his parents separated and left him in the care of aunt, 33-year-old Marie Ann Abejo.

Abejo said she still has to decide whether to press charges against the parents of the young shooter.

She said all she was focusing on now is finding assistance for the hospital bills and medicine and Abaño’s safety.

When CDN visited the hospital yesterday, Mark Rey lay in bed with his head bandaged and a dextrose tube in his hand.

Dr. Duterte, CCMC chief, said the boy underwent a craniotomy or operation to remove a  bone flap in the skull in order to remove a blood clot in his head. The doctor said he would be well enough to enroll for school next month.

But the aunt said she was told by the doctor the left part of the boy’s body would be paralyzed and his motor functions won’t be the same.

“The doctor told me he can’t go back to normal.  He can still move but it’s limited.  He can no longer carry heavy things with his left arm,” after the gunshot injury in the right side of his head.

Abejo said Mark Rey would often hang out in the Jumao-as billiard hall in sitio Lawis to watch billiard games. Part of the area hosts a mini-Internet shop with four computers.

CDN also visited the mother of the 11-year-old shooter at home yesterday.

NOT INTENTIONAL

In a separate interview, she said her son was playing Internet video games at the billiard hall last Saturday afternoon and came home crying that he had done something bad.

“Wa daw niya tuyo-a.” (He didn’t mean to shoot the boy), she insisted.

The mother said her husband’s cousin sent her 11-year-old son to Leyte province last Sunday because they were scared of what the police would do to him.

With the help of Pasil barangay councilor Marivic Alolor, she brought the boy to the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWS) on  Tuesday.  He was later released to the family and is staying with his grandmother in Cebu City.

The mother earns a living selling halo-halo, a dessert of shaved ice, and milk, in a roadside stall near their home. Her husband assists.

With their meager earnings of P400 to P500 a day, the mother said they are still looking for money for the hospital bills of Mark Rey.

The 56-year-old grandmother of the 11-year-old boy offender, said the family is willing to extend help.

“Tabangan ang bata. Di pasagdan. Luoy sad baya.” (We will help the child [Abaño]. We will not leave him behind. We pity him.) the grandmother said.

Cesar Abergas, 64, caretaker of the Jumao-as billiard hall, said he didn’t notice the 11-year-old brandishing a gun last Saturday.

“Wala ko kabantay. Nakadungog nalang ko nga ni-ingon siya (11-year-old) nga wa nako tuyo-a. Gikuhaan naman to nako ug bala.” (I didn’t notice him. I just heard him say “I didn’t mean it.” I had already unloaded the bullets from the gun.)

Abergas said he only heard one burst of gunfire and then saw Mark Ray slumped on the floor with a gunshot wound in the head.

NEGLIGENCE

In a separate interview, Senior Insp. Jul Mohammad Jamiri, chief of the Homicide Section of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), said the ownership of the gun is still being checked.

He asked the Firearms Explosives Security Service Agency and Guards Supervisory Section (FESSAGS) to trace the paperwork.

Jamiri said social workers need to find out if parents of the 11-year-old offender were “negligent” in their parental duties.

While the boy is not criminally liable because of his minor age, the parents can still be held liable for civil damages.

“We can’t file a charge of illegal possession of firearms against the parents because we didn’t recover the .38 caliber from their possession. The firearm was turned over to the police in good faith,” Jamiri said.

Senior Insp. Joan Arnoco, head of the Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD) of CCPO,  said they already turned over the 11-year-old boy to social workers.

“We are not authorized to handle the minor. We turned him over to social workers but we will assist in the investigation.

She said  Mark Rey’s  parents should be the one to file a civil complaint for damages parents of the 11-year-old offender.

Under Republic Act 9344, also known as the Juvenile and Justice Welfare Act of 2006, “a child fifteen (15) years of age or under at the time of the commission of the offense shall be exempt from criminal liability”.

These minor offenders are not to be detained in jail but are supposed to be given counselling or handled in a diversion program by the State through the Department of Social Welfare and Development or other agencies.

The law also states that if a child is taken into custody is 15 years old or below, he must be immediately released to the custody of his or her parents or guardian.

The local social welfare officer “will determine the appropriate programs in consultation with the child and to the person having custody over the child.”

Dexter Paro, social welfare officer, said the 11-year-old shooter will undergo psychological evaluation on May 29.

“This is to attest to how true his trauma is,” he said.

“The boy was afraid to see a person in uniform,” said Ester Concha, chief of the Department of Social Welfare Services of Cebu City.

She said there was a need to counsel the boy.

Jaybee Binghay,  DSWD regional information officer, said that while  the boy can’t be held liable for the “accidental shooting”, his parents can be sued for civil liability.

“We don’t adivse having the child returned to the parents because the accident showed the parents irresponsibility for not being able to attend to the needs of the child,” she said.

She said the DSWD 7 can offer psychosocial intervention if needed. /With a report from Correspondents Jessa Agua and Tweeny Malinao