Gina de V's cell phone snatched in Baguio market

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – City officials are thinking of banning children working as porters and plastic bag vendors at the public market after Pangasinan fourth district Rep. Gina de Venecia lost her cellular phone to snatchers there last Monday.

Police have taken three young porters for questioning but they got no admissions from them.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan said even the children’s parents “came to me and swore (that) their children were clean.”

Domogan said he got calls from the congresswoman and even from her husband, former Speaker Jose de Venecia, after the incident as the cell phone contained important numbers.

Apparently embarrassed by the snatching incident, Domogan said he was thinking of banning children from selling plastic bags and working as porters at the public market. 

“In the first place, they should be in school,” he said.

“We are thinking of crafting an administrative order to prohibit children selling wares and (working) as porters at the market,” he said.

Domogan took the city police to task as he described the snatching incident as a “slap” to the tourist-friendliness of the city.

He expressed suspicion that syndicates might be behind young thieves roaming the public market disguised as plastic bag vendors or porters.