Derick was not only bullied; he was brutally beaten by his fellow minors in the afternoon of June 12 without any reason at all.
Derick is a grade 5 pupil of Tetep-an Elementary School in Sagada, Mountain Province. He is the child of Rosaria and Fred Ramon of whom I officiated their church wedding in 2019 at St. Joseph Church in Kilong, Sagada. This is the primary reason of my serious intervention.
On June 14, Teresa Lino persistently encouraged me to visit some patients at St. Theodore Hospital (STH) in Sagada. STH is owned by the Episcopalian church. I am happy the STH administration had been allowing me to administer the Sacrament of Anointing to Catholic patients in the hospital since 2018.
In the morning of June 14, Teresa brought me to patients who requested for healing prayers. We visited five rooms where we met, Derick, an innocent kid who was a victim of serious physical injury.
According to sources, Derick attended wedding feasts in Antadao, Sagada. On his way home, he rested at the Kiltepan shade where three pupils forced him to drink alcohol and later landed punches on him until he almost lost his consciousness. An old woman saw the incident and pacified the culprits before Derick became unconscious.
I was saddened and equally alarmed by the brutality of young people in our communities. It is no longer a remote case as I have been witnessing street fights leading to violence among the youth in Sagada. It is not a rare scenario as well to see children and youth getting drunk and sleeping along the streets and pathways. Why are these social issues worsening each day?
Here are my observations. Excessive drinking by men along the road, along the pathways, in the dap-ay, in waiting sheds, and stores is becoming a normal scenario in the barangays.
Men get drunk and not care about their neighbors. They will fight and hurt each other even leading to serious injuries. They will disturb the community. They will break bottles on site and turn the grounds messy and unsafe for people the next day.
They will also threaten and endanger innocent people along the way. The concerned citizens will clean their mess and the culprits are shameless. They become bad examples to the children and the youth. They are irresponsible.
With all the social issues caused by the public display of excessive drinking of alcohol in the communities, the people and barangay officials simply tolerate them. In effect, innocent people become victims of their selfish pleasure of drunkenness.
Grades 5 and six pupils can get drunk already. High school students are exposed as well to drunkenness. If these practices thrive among the young people, expect a more chaotic community after five years.
I question the curfew ordinance in the barangays. It should not exempt anyone unless there is urgency or emergency. I question as well the sale of liquors to minors. I question parents who do not accompany their children for values formation. I question government agencies entrusted with the responsibility of looking after the welfare of the young people.
Let us not stop collaborating until we minimize these social issues. The church will always collaborate. Don’t wait until your children become victims of brutality due to drunkenness. Unless the public display of alcoholism stops, children and youth will be influenced by the bad examples of adults.
The three minors who injured Derick must not end in the police blotter but be given serious attention by the concerned government agency for rehabilitation. Let us not wait for them to become lawbreakers.
To end my story at STH, we prayed together in the hospital for the conversion of the culprits and the fast healing of Derick. I hugged the innocent boy and said, “Derick don’t ever think of revenge. It’s not healthy.”
He smartly replied, “Yes padi!”
I jokingly said, “Be a priest someday!”
He just smiled and we bade goodbye.
Let us be proactive and be cooperative. No to public display of alcohol drinking and drunkenness. No to excessive alcoholism.
Reach me at [email protected].
May 5, 2024
