EDITORIAL — There has to be a way

A man who has been making the rounds in social media --and not for the right reasons-- was recently arrested for illegal possession of firearms.

We can say that Arbie Cuervo’s claim to fame, or rather to infamy, was that he often sang on Passenger Utility Jeepneys (PUJ’s) hoping for money from sympathetic passengers. If refused, the “singer” would turn brigand and threaten passengers for money, or even assault them if he felt they didn’t give enough.

Now Cuervo has been arrested for illegal possession of firearms after intelligence operatives reported to police that Cuervo had a gun in his house in Barangay Kalubihan.

He would later say he got the gun for his own protection after he found out that he had gone viral online because of his misbehavior.

We don’t know what Cuervo’s plans were for that gun. He might have really gotten it to protect himself --which doesn’t change the fact that he got and kept it illegally -- or it could be that he was planning to use it for crime.

We cannot totally blame Cuervo, who is just 18 years old, for where he ended up. As per his story, both his parents were arrested for illegal drugs and he never got to finish school. He ended up living with his grandmother and sang in PUJ’s as a child to earn money. His sad story is just one among the many of those who sing in PUJ’s for money or beg in the streets.

However, we also cannot ignore that fact that Cuervo wasn’t one to shy away from threatening passengers for money or hurting them when he wasn’t happy. The fact that he also recently got a gun doesn’t bode well for anyone in any way.

There has to be a way to make sure kids who don’t get a better chance at life than others don’t end up like Cuervo. And for people like Cuervo, there has to be a way to make a living without threatening or hurting others.

Another thing worth mentioning here is that it is in the interest of public safety to not give money to PUJ singers. Doing so will not only break the law; it encourages vagrants that they can make a living doing so, with the option to turn to threats if their vocal talents aren’t appreciated.