Cotabato City mayor campaigns versus teenage gangs
Local News • 14:30 PM Sun Aug 18, 2019
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By:
John M. Unson
For illustration only
COTABATO CITY --- The iron-fisted mayor here has offered members of emerging teenage gangs psycho-social interventions but warned of police action if they refuse to cooperate.
Mayor Cynthia Guiani-Sayadi said Sunday she will also task the city social welfare office to help address the problem that has alarmed some parents of students in local schools.
A group of 30 top members of different newly-organized local gangs, mostly high school dropouts, voluntarily yielded to the mayor last week and promised to reform for good.
Guiani-Sayadi said the city social welfare office and the police shall work together in educating gang members on why they need to disband and reintegrate into mainstream society as peace-loving adolescents.
The mayor, a lawyer by profession, said she will first use diplomacy and initiate dialogues with parents of gang members to compel them to disband.
Uncooperative gang members shall be dealt with accordingly, she said.
Guiani-Sayadi is known for her hardline stance in addressing domestic peace and security issues in Cotabato City, home to mixed Muslim, Christian and Lumad residents.