Mayor Agustin Perdices said Tuesday that the local government, through the City Social Welfare and Development Office, might withdraw the child abuse raps it had filed against several persons who staged a strike at the Dumaguete port.

This was after several mothers trooped to the CSWDO Tuesday morning to rally for the withdrawal of the complaint.

SPO1 Josefina Lakandula of the city police Women and Children’s Concerns Desk had earlier said that the women, mostly wives of striking union workers, had flocked to the CSWDO to seek an audience with that office.

Laume Quijote, CSWDO supervisor, and Lakandula, with other social workers, entertained the women.

Earlier, the CSWDO, through Quijote, filed a complaint of child abuse in violation of provisions of Republic Act 7610 against Felizardo Calimpong and other persons involved in the March 29 picket at the port.

The complaint stemmed from the use of children as "human shields" during the enforcement of a temporary restraining order against the strikers last March 29.

Calimpong was among those charged, being the district supervisor of the Associated Labor Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines, to which the strikers were affiliated.

As the case developed, the police and the CSWDO were able to pinpoint the identities of the parents who allegedly employed their children at the picket lines, said Lakandula.

Perdices said they might just withdraw the case if those concerned would be humble enough to admit their guilt and promise not to commit the offense again.

He added that it was a blessing that not one of the children was hurt during the violence that erupted at the port that day.

The children told reporters they went there of their own free will, but this was obviously unbelievable, the mayor said.

Meanwhile, the CSWDO handed out two sacks of rice to the mothers to be distributed among the families affected by the strike.

But, with the strike coming to an end Tuesday morning, Mayor Perdices said there may no longer be any need for the city to provide assistance to them.

As of late Monday evening, the Philippine Ports Authority, the winning bidder of the cargo handling operations at the Dumaguete port, Prudential Customs Brokerage Services, Inc., and the striking ALU-TUCP workers, signed an agreement that ended the almost two-month long conflict.

The agreement states that PCBSI should absorb 119 of the strikers who are ordered to report for work not later than Thursday.*JG

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