BY CALVIN D. CORDOVA
CEBU CITY — The Police Regional Office 7 (PRO 7), headed by Police Brig. Gen. Albert Ignatius Ferro, recently turned over a newly built house to seven siblings who were abandoned by their mother after their father was arrested for illegal drug charges.
Ferro described the construction of the house in Barangay Tubigagmanok, Asturias town, Cebu as a “labor of love” after PRO 7 personnel pooled their resources together to provide the siblings a decent shelter.
“We built the house out of the contribution from the different police units. It has a decent hygienic toilet and two bedrooms,” said Ferro said.
The house is worth between P75,000 and P100,000, said Ferro.
“We called it a labor of love because policemen from different units of the Cebu provincial police really helped in the construction of the house,” Ferro added.
The PRO 7 learned of the seven siblings’ plight through Facebook page “The Voice of Asturias.”
According to Ferro, the father of the seven siblings (aged one, three, five, nine, 10, 12 and 14) was arrested in November 2019 for illegal drug charges.
When the COVID-19 struck, the kids’ mother abandoned them and left them under the care of their grandmother.
Before the PRO 7 extended the helping hand, the siblings lived in a makeshift shanty with walls made up of nylon sacks.
During the turnover of the house last June 21, the PRO 7 also donated two wooden beds, rubber mats, pillows, blankets and foams.
Ferro and Police Col. Roderick Mariano, chief of the Cebu Provincial Police Office, also stood as grandfathers when the PRO 7 shouldered the baptism of the five siblings last June 28.
Ferro also revealed that the Los Caballeros Foundation offered educational scholarship to the seven kids.
Ferro said the PRO 7 will continue to build houses for less-fortunate individuals especially those affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This is part of the “Kapwa Ko, Sagot Ko” program of the Philippine National Police,” said Ferro. (Calvin D. Cordova)
