GENERAL SANTOS CITY—Police authorities have implemented clearing operations at 26 barangays following reports that four children being used by local drug syndicates to sell illegal drugs were killed in a separate incidents in a week.
Police record showed that Children-In-Conflict with the Law (CICL) have increased their numbers, from 3,000 in 2017 to 4,000 this 2018 and reported that many of the recruited minors were using and selling methamphetamine hydrochloride, or shabu, also known as the poor man’s cocaine.
However, Arabeque Batilong, the City Social Welfare and Development Officer, said their office is still validating and evaluating the exact figure of how many were really minor children because, based on their actual records, they only have more or less 40 cases of CICL. Most of the reports of minors in the police blotter showed, upon verification, that they were really adults.
“This reported 3,000 in number that increased to 4,000 CICL was just an estimated figure of the police. We believe many of those classified as children were really adults,” Batilong said.