The 37-member Quezon City council has passed a measure tapping the youth and even children to help in disaster risk reduction and management program.
“Beyond the usual fire or earthquake drill, it is time we equip the youth with the knowledge, skills, and readiness that will help them reduce disaster risk in their homes, school and among classmates, friends, loved ones,” Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte said.
“This is especially necessary for a young city where the average age of our citizen is 24,” she added.
City Ordinance No. 2711 or the “Children and Youth Emergency and Risk Reduction Management Program of Quezon City” aims to teach young people that they serve “an important role in saving lives and protecting the members of the community in times of disaster.”
The city’s Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office shall provide training, drills, and workshops for children and youth in schools, barangays and various youth clubs.
The ordinance would also mentor young people on how they can help during rehabilitation and relief operation.
Meanwhile, police nabbed two female suspects in Quezon City in violation of the Anti-Fencing Law for selling a stolen laptop belonging to a teaching personnel of the Department of Education.
Chief Supt. Joselito Esquivel Jr, Quezon City Police District chief, identified the suspects as Salvacion Marco, 27, and Jellyn Gabito, 30, both from Caloocan City.
Three DepEd employees assigned at the Pasig City main office personally appeared to the QCPD’s District Special Operations Unit to report that the suspects were selling through online media a Coby laptop for only P11,000.
They said the gadget’s original price was at P39,976.95.
Upon verification, the laptop with a DepEd logo was confirmed by the employees as the same laptop that was reportedly stolen from a teacher in Tabuk, Kalinga on Aug. 2.
Last Sept. 7 at around 6:30 p.m., police operatives set up an entrapment operation as one of the three DepEd workers acted as poseur-buyer and met with the suspects at the Robinsons Place in Novaliches.
The suspects were immediately arrested after receiving a marked money of P11,000. Three other suspects remained at large.
