DSWD Lapu police mishandled child -Cebu Daily News
March 14, 2012

Social welfare officials in Lapu-Lapu City questioned the city police’s interrogation of the 7-year-old boy who claimed to have witnessed the drowning of 7-year-old Joshua Veloso in barangay Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City, last Feb. 29.

In an interview, Mark Bao, social worker assistant of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in Lapu-Lapu City said the boy’s affidavit as facilitated by the police is “inadmissible” in court.

Bao said the execution of an affidavit involving a minor should be done in the presence of social workers.

The affidavit was reportedly executed by investigators of the police’s Women and Children’s Protection Desk (WCPD).

The desk also executed the affidavit of the 11-year-old who pushed Joshua into the waters.

Joshua, whose mother didn’t press charges against the underage bullies who harassed him, didn’t know how to swim.

Read full article @ cebudailynews.wordpress.com