Girl steals "for birth certificate" she tried to victimize policewoman

CEBU, Philippines - “I had no other choice.”

This was the excuse an 11-year-old girl used to explain why she tried to steal the wallet of a policewoman yesterday afternoon.

PO1 Irish Buena, 34, of Alcantara, southwestern Cebu, was shopping for a new bag inside a store along Osmeña Boulevard when she felt her bag move.

She turned to her side and caught the 11-year-old in the act of stealing the wallet from her shoulder bag.

Buena was shocked that the thief was only a girl but she was able to hold the girl’s hand immediately and take her to the Waterfront Police Station at around 2:30 p.m.

In an interview with The FREEMAN, the girl admitted it was not her first time to steal. She is from Barangay Inayawan, Cebu City. 

The girl said she had no choice but to steal so that she can give what her teacher had long been asking from her – her birth certificate.

“My teacher asked me to submit my birth certificate so that I can proceed to grade one,” the girl said in Cebuano.

She said she needed the money after her mother, who is unemployed, failed to keep the promise of helping her. “My mother keeps on promising that she will help me, but after weeks of asking, nothing happened,” she said.  

Aside from her problem in getting her birth certificate from the National Statistics Office, the girl told The FREEMAN that her name was also misspelled in her birth certificate from the local registrar so, she said, she needs a lot of money to rectify her misspelled name.  

Youngest among four children, the girl has allegedly been neglected because her father is different from the others. “I came from another father,” she said.

She admitted she tried to steal the wallet of the policewoman and promised never to do it again. She will be turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development – 7. (FREEMAN)