mmalabanan
MANILA, Philippines- The authorities are doubting the story of the 12-year-old pandesal vendor who allegedly got robbed of his P200-earnings and goods in Caloocan City.
According to “Bryan”, an unidentified man wearing a cap approached him at around 6:00 to 6:30 am in the Deparo area in Caloocan on October 19. The man, whom he thought was a buyer, pointed a knife to his side and ordered him to give his earnings and pandesal box.
Christopher Pacheco, a bystander who saw “Bryan” after the incident took a video of the boy weeping and shaking, seemingly traumatised by what happened. The video uploaded on Facebook immediately became viral and gained the attention of netizens who showed their support and offered help to Bryan.
Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan even promised to give Bryan a bicycle after learning that the boy had been working hard to have a bicycle. Bryan said he had been selling pandesal for two years in order to support his family and cover for his school allowance.
Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) also pledged to give educational assistance to Bryan, while his family will be one of the beneficiaries of Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).
Conflicting Statements
However, the police are questioning Bryan’s statement since it was the third time he claimed being robbed.
Furthermore, they think Bryan was just making up a story because he did not want to go home empty-handed and be beaten by his mother.
Earlier, a bystander who saw Bryan after the alleged incident claimed the child vendor did not want to go home for fear that his mother would beat him up because of his loss.
In addition, the traffic enforcer who first spoke to Bryan said the boy’s statements regarding where the robber ran off was conflicting.
Some residents theorised that the boy might have been taughtt to invent such story so that he would not be physically abused by his mother.
Alleged Suspect Innocent
The man whom Bryan identified through CCTV as his assailant is innocent, according to police. They added that Deparo area is always crowded making it unlikely for such crime to take place in the said location.
The authorities are also looking into the possibility of filing a case against Bryan’s mother for hurting him.
