* Authorities rescued five minors, aged 10 to 12, on Oct. 14, 2026, after they threw stones and glass bottles at a Mandaue City restaurant, injuring an employee with disabilities.
* Identified via CCTV footage, the minors were taken into custody with their parents, while the restaurant considers filing legal complaints using medico-legal reports and video evidence.
* Social workers recommended social welfare evaluation for one repeat offender for potential center placement, released the remaining four to their parents, and city authorities increased area monitoring.
FIVE minors aged 10 to 12 were taken into custody following a violent night of begging that escalated into a stone-throwing spree, leaving a restaurant employee with disabilities injured in Barangay Alang-Alang, Mandaue City.
The joint rescue operation was carried out on Wednesday night, Oct. 14, 2026, by the Safety Maintenance Area Response Team (Smart) under the Mandaue City Mayor’s Office, in close coordination with the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the City Social Welfare Services (CSWS).
The intervention came after staff of a restaurant along D.M. Cortes St. requested assistance from local authorities when a group of children began hurling heavy objects at the establishment.
Aggressive behavior
According to Gerrard Gleen Soon Gobalani, team leader of the Mayor’s Office Smart unit, the children loitered in the commercial district and asked pedestrians and motorists for spare change. When people refused their requests, the minors turned aggressive and launched stones and glass bottles at passersby and commercial establishments.
During the incident, a stone struck a restaurant employee with disabilities directly in the head and caused physical trauma. Gobalani voiced alarm over the aggression displayed by the young children, noting that the scene was littered with hazardous debris from the thrown objects.
He added that the group did not restrict itself to rocks because responding personnel discovered shattered glass bottles scattered across the road upon arriving at the scene. He expressed sadness over the situation and called it heartbreaking to witness children at a tender age display violent behavioral tendencies.
CCTV footage
To trace those responsible, local authorities reviewed closed-circuit television security footage provided by the restaurant and officials of Barangay Cambaro. After identifying the children from the video feeds, personnel tracked them to their residences in Barangay Cambaro and brought them into custody alongside their parents and legal guardians.
Gobalani confirmed that the management of the affected restaurant is evaluating the filing of a formal legal complaint against those accountable for the injury suffered by their employee. Official CCTV recordings alongside a formal medico-legal examination report were
gathered as documentation to support potential proceedings.
Repeat offender
Further investigation revealed that at least one of the apprehended minors was involved in previous similar incidents of violent behavior in the area.
Following standard protocols for children in conflict with the law, social workers recommended that the repeat offender undergo a comprehensive social welfare evaluation to determine whether the child should be placed in the Hope of Mandaue Enhance facility, a government center for juvenile care.
The remaining four minors were released into the custody of their parents. Social workers and city officials provided initial counseling and formal guidance to the children and their guardians, reminding the parents of their primary obligation to supervise their children’s activities and keep them off the streets.
Gobalani revealed that the disturbance was not an isolated occurrence because city response units previously received similar complaints around the intersection of A.C. Cortes and D.M. Cortes streets. In those reported instances, roving groups of street children solicited money from passing motorists and threw objects at vehicles when drivers declined to give them money.
City authorities confirmed that monitoring in the area will continue to protect workers and motorists from harm. / ABC