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Bello wants to provide jobs for snatchers of his phone

By Ferdinand Patinio

November 9, 2020, 5:23 pm

<p>Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III. <em>(File photo)</em></p>

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III. (File photo)

MANILA – Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III wants to help the suspects who snatched his mobile phone last week by providing them jobs.

Maj. Joselito de Ocampo of the Manila Police District presented the suspects to the DOLE chief on Monday in his office in Intramuros, Manila and to turn over the recovered mobile phone, an iPhone 11 Pro Max worth around PHP79,000.

“What the Secretary would like is to help them maybe to change the course of their life by providing them with employment opportunities,” Rolly Francia, DOLE-Information and Publication Service (IPS) director, said in a virtual forum.

He added that according to authorities, the suspects are now members of gangs and it will not be easy for them to be transformed.

“The Secretary asked the police to investigate (the) incident and to recommend if it’s still possible for (the) minors to be reformed by giving their jobs. He is hoping that they will be able to help them, as the Secretary is not yearning for these children to be jailed,” Francia said.

He, meanwhile, said Bello wants the buyer of the snatched cellphone, who was also arrested, to be jailed.

“He wants the buyer to be jailed since one will not engage in snatching cellphones if he knows that no one will buy from them,” he said.

Bello’s cellphone was snatched near the Manila City Hall and Mehan Garden on November 6.

The suspects were arrested in a follow-up operation over the weekend. (PNA)

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