Crowd forms as teens brawl in Tondo amid COVID-19 pandemic

Health measures against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) were once again violated on Monday evening as a crowd formed in Tondo, Manila to watch a brawl between two teenagers.

According to Jun Veneracion’s Tuesday report on “24 Oras,” video footage showed the teenagers, who were not wearing face masks, exchanging blows in Barangay 38 as some of the crowd cheered them on.

The brawl then ended when a vehicle of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology passed by.

The video was then posted on social media by “Henry Boy.”

“Ayaw ko lang po kasi pamarisan ng mga anak ko ‘yung mga ganoong bagay na ano, tulad ng suntukan, ‘yung ano po, kaya pinost ko na rin po sa social media para hindi na rin po tuluran ng mga menor de edad ‘yung ginagawa nila,” he said.

(I don’t want my children to do those kinds of things, to brawl, so I posted it on social media. This way, other minors won’t follow what they did.)

Barangay officials were unable to monitor the disturbance. They only found out about the incident once approached by the GMA News team.

Upon reviewing the CCTV footage, the officials saw the brawl at around 8 p.m.

“Kaya pinagagalitan ko nga sila. Useless ‘yung CCTV natin kung hindi nila namo-monitor. Kitang-kita naman sa monitor na naguumpukan ang bata,” Barangay Chairman Alfredo Garcia said.

(I scolded them. Our CCTV is useless if they can’t monitor it. It was obvious that the children were fighting.)

According to the barangay, the teenagers were not residents of the barangay.

Meanwhile, police are looking into the identities of those involved.

“Kukunin natin ‘yung mga bata, pati magulang, isa-submit natin for counseling,” Police Lieutenant Colonel Magno Gallora Jr., Manila Police District Station 2 commander, said.

(We will have both the parents and their sons go to counseling.) — Joahna Lei Casilao/DVM, GMA News