ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Aug. 30, 2014) – A 16-year old boy was caught sexually abusing a seven-year old girl at a refugee shelter in Zamboanga City in southern Philippines, police said Saturday.
Police said a protection volunteer Ricky Amisali caught the teenager abusing the girl at a comfort room inside the Joaquin Enriquez Memorial Sports Complex which is being used as a shelter for villagers affected by rebel attacks in Zamboanga city last year.
Amisali was patrolling at the shelter when he spotted the teenager abusing the victim on August 28 and arrested the young felon and subsequently handed him over and the girl to social worker Abner Mandanagan, who reported the abuse to the police.
The teenager was turned over to the custody of the Center for Children in Conflict with Law while the girl is under the care of her parents. It was not immediately known if the victim’s mother would pursue a criminal case against the teenager.
Rape and sexual abuses are not uncommon at the sports complex and despite the presence of social workers and protection volunteers these incidents still continue and in some cases involving relatives or family members.
In June this year, a six-year old girl was repeatedly abused by her 12-year old neighbor at the sports complex and was not even reported by her family to authorities for a still unknown reason.
Thousands of refugees remain in the filthy sports complex as the government continues to rebuild communities destroyed by three weeks of fighting in September where more than 400 people were killed and wounded in the violence. The clashes displaced over 120,000 people.
Those in the evacuation areas were villagers affected and displaced by rebel attacks mounted in September by the Moro National Liberation Front under Nur Misuari. The attack sparked three weeks of street battles that killed and wounded over 400 people and displaced some 120,000 villagers.
More than 170 refugees had died from diseases in the evacuation centers due to lack of sufficient medical and emergency facilities there. The United Nations has expressed alarm over the poor conditions of refugees still at different evacuation centers and transition sites here.
Mayor Maria Isabelle Salazar has been going around refugee sites to personally see their condition and assured them of the government’s rehabilitation efforts. She is frequently spotted in transitory sites and in housing projects supervising ongoing works in those areas. (Mindanao Examiner)
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