13-year-old lock picker picked up by police after burglary attempt
The boy says his mother would order him to get inside houses and steal; if he refused, she would burn his legs using melted straw
A fan of President Rodrigo Duterte, the 13-year-old grade one finisher showed reporters his adeptness for picking a lock as they waited for the Punta Princesa police in Cebu City to decide what to do with him after what police term a “rescue.”
The boy, whose identity is being withheld for being a minor and his involvement in a crime, said his mother taught him how to pick locks so they could get inside houses and steal. They then would buy, using stolen money, shabu for her and rugby for him.
His mother is in jail for burglary offenses.
By his accounts, he has broken into 30 houses in Cebu City, Naga City and Liloan. He had been picked up a few times but was always released for being a minor. More about this story.
Instead of spending time playing like normal kids, 13-year-old Dodong picks locks of houses at night on his mother’s orders.
If he resists, his mother would get a straw, burn it and let it melt on his legs.
“Mura kog gidauban, moinit akong kamot maong mangawat ko (It hurts. I have no choice),” Dodong said, scratching the scars on his skin.
Dodong (real name withheld) was rescued by the Punta Prinsesa Police Station of the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) after he was caught for the second time in Barangay Buhisan trying to pick the lock of a house.
Last Tuesday, Dodong was also taken into custody when he burglarized a house in Barangay Quiot.
“We’re working out how we can turn him over to the social workers because he is already a recidivist. We have to find a way that he’s safe and at the same time, he can’t steal again,” Chief Insp. Ramoncelio Sawan, head of the Punta Prinsesa Police said.
Records and Dodong’s own confession revealed that he had stolen valuables from more than 30 houses in Cebu City and Cebu Province, including the City of Naga and Liloan.
“When my mother was still not in jail, she would force me to accompany her in stealing things so that she can buy shabu while I buy rugby,” he said.
Councilor Margarita Osmeña facilitated the transfer of Dodong in the Operation Second Chance.
“So that he can be safe and taken care of there,” Cebu City Police Office Director Joel Doria said.
Doria said that the child’s mother had been also arrested five times for “akyat-bahay” and other offenses.
Dodong showed reporters and police officers that he could pick locks in less than a minute, a skill, he said that was taught to him by his mother.
“If I am given the chance, I would stop this. I would seek for help and ask the person to tie my hands whenever I feel the urge to steal again,” he said.
Dodong said that he wanted to go to school. He had stopped at Grade 1. He said he wanted his own basketball and bike.
“I idolize President Duterte. I want to be a policeman when I grow up,” he said.
Dodong will be under the care of social workers from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.