N.Cotabato cops praised for taking in kids abandoned in church by parents

NORTH COTABATO, Philippines — There was this peculiar non-crime incident here on Christmas Day that the local police addressed promptly, earning praises from the local communities.

A couple, locked in marital quarrel, abandoned at nighttime Saturday their four children, among them a three-month-old infant, in the premises of the Catholic Church along a highway in Libungan, in total disregard of their safety. 

Personnel of the Libungan Municipal Police Station, led by Police Capt. Razul Pandulo, and their Women and Children’s Protection Desk staff, rescued several hours later the four children, the oldest an eight-year-old girl, who were by then all hungry and physically exhausted.

Members of the Libungan police force took care of the abandoned children for almost two days, during which they were provided with food,  milk and clean clothes.

The women police officers, among them Police SMsgt Analie Queen Alanis and Police Cpl. Kristine Grace Ulep, took turns watching over the four children until personnel sent by Pandulo found their parents, whose irresponsibility local residents assailed on social media.

The good gesture of the Libungan police force went viral on Facebook, with social media users netizens praising Libungan police for taking care of the children.

Pandulo said Monday the children had been turned over to their parents, residing in one of the barangays here.

Barangay leaders and officials from the local government are to monitor the family to prevent a repeat of the incident.

The Libungan municipal police even supplied the family rice and other provisions, delivered to their home, as part of its humanitarian outreach mission.