GRANDMA CUTS GIRL’S FINGER OVER P20

TAGUM CITY— For supposedly stealing P20 from her grandmother, a 10-year-old girl in Apokon village here lost her right index finger.

Supt. Laudemer Laude, Tagum City police chief, said the city police rescued the girl after learning that her grandmother cut off the girl’s finger on Wednesday as punishment for taking the money without her permission.

“According to the grandmother, she was already fed up with the girl for repeatedly stealing money,” Delia Monilla, a community leader, said in a local radio interview.

“She was so angry (at the girl for stealing). She said the P20 was not the first [ her granddaughter took from her]. The girl had already stolen [a total amount of] about P7,000,” Monilla said.

The grandmother, she said, used to serve as village treasurer.

Police learned about the incident when a neighbor reported the abuse to their office. Lo- cal police officials said they were working with the city’s social welfare department for the filing of appropriate charges against the suspect.

The girl’s mother is an overseas Filipino worker in the Middle East, while her father, the grandmother’s son, left the girl and two other siblings under the care of their grandmother.

Police turned over the custody of the girl to the Department of Social Welfare and Development on Monday.

Arlene Semblante, Davao del Norte provincial social welfare chief, said she would recommend to the Tagum City social welfare and development office and the city police to investigate the suspect.

“We will take care of the child. If she has to be taken away from her grandmother’s custody, we will recommend her to be under the provincial government’s shelter for women and children,” Semblante said.