Chained teener’s parents, brod face child abuse raps

BACOLOD CITY — Police in Don Salvador Benedicto, Negros Occidental are set to file today child abuse charges against the parents and a brother of a 14-year-old girl who had been chained for more than a year.

The teener, whose name is being withheld, escaped from their house in Barangay Bunga, Don Salvador Benedicto last July 23 and was given temporary shelter by a couple in Barangay Quezon, San Carlos City.

Mayor Cynthia de la Cruz said the girl is being kept in a safehouse of the Department of Social Welfare and Development pending the results of her medical and psychiatric tests.

De la Cruz said neighbors knew nothing about the abuse because the girl’s family live in the middle of a farm and that their house is guarded by 25 dogs.

Meanwhile, Sen. Jamby Madrigal said the Abad Santos Madrigal Foundation is prepared to help the girl.

Vince Abad Santos, Madrigal’s chief of staff, said the foundation will immediately look into the girl’s needs.

He said Madrigal is now coordinating with De la Cruz and other local officials "to see to it that the victim’s immediate needs are taken care of." — Antonieta Lopez