The City Prosecutor’s Office raised concern on the drastic increase in minors who are suspects in various cases committed in the city during the last quarter of 2023.
City Prosecutor Conrado V. Catral said that of the 347 complaints investigated by the office during the said period, 203, or 59%, of the involved suspects are minors.
Further, on the 63 complaints that were subject to inquest proceedings, 30 of the involved suspects are also minors.
Catral claimed that 203 informations from the complaints received during the quarter were filed with the appropriate courts in the city while of the 63 new complaints subject to inquest proceedings, 74 informations were also filed with the appropriate courts.
Among the complaints investigated by the City Prosecutor’s Office include violation of Batas Pambansa Bilang 22 or the Bouncing Check Law with 78 followed by estafa with 68, theft – 30, violation of the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children (VAWC) – 17, violation of child protection laws – 12, rape, carnapping and illegal recruitment with 7 each, robbery – 5, violation of tax laws and homicide with 3 each, murder and illegal gambling with 1 each and other crimes with 91.
He added that 60 informations were filed for violation of the Bouncing Check Law, 45 informations were for other criminal offenses, 33 informations were filed for estafa, 21 for theft, 11 for rape, 10 for violation of the Antiviolence Against Women and Children (VAWC), 8 for violation of child protection laws, 7 for cybercrime, 3 for illegal recruitment, 2 each for carnapping and homicide and 1 for robbery.
Of the complaints subject for inquest proceedings, 18 were for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Law, 16 for other criminal offenses, 15 for theft, 5 for rape, 3 for VAWC and 1 each for violation of child protection laws, cybercrime, homicide, illegal recruitment, robbery and illegal gambling.
Of the informations that were filed following results of the inquest proceedings, 32 were for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Dugs Law, 15 were for theft, 14 were for other criminal offenses, 5 were for rape, 3 were for VAWC, 1 each were for violation of child protection laws, cybercrime, homicide, illegal recruitment, and illegal gambling.
The city prosecutor’s office filed three informations in court of the 23 motions for reconsideration or cases that were subjected for re-investigation during the aforesaid period. By Dexter A. See
