FIVE more gangbangers will join 18-year-old Raul Lumamba Jr. in jail, all of them facing murder charges in the death of a minor during a gang war last Sunday afternoon in Cagayan de Oro City.

Police Lt. Col. Ivan Viñas, the spokesman of the Cagayan de Oro City Police Command (Cocpo), said the other suspects are all minors.

Two of them were taken by the police and turned over to the social workers, while the remaining three are still at large.

“Amo na gipasa tanan nga info sa fiscal for the filing of cases before the city Prosecutor's office. Sila na bahala mo-evaluate,” Viñas said.

The five minors were reportedly with Lumamba as members of ‘Soy Shit Dem’ when the latter stabbed to death 14-year-old Nathaniel Ebalang of the rival gang ‘Kaibigan Lang Po Kami’ after a wild chase that started in Gaston Park and ended near a Shopping Mall along Corrales street.

Lumamba’s accomplices were among those who pursued Ebalang’s group from Gaston Park near the Cathedral and City Hall where the commotion started, almost two kilometers away from the crime scene where the Northern Mindanao Medical Center is also located just across the street.

Video clips provided by a certain John Dave to the police showed that before Lumamba stabbed the victim twice, the other suspects took turns in beating Ebalang with blunt objects.

They hit him with an iron pipe, a shovel, a wooden object, and anything they have before Lumamba finished Ibalang with two lethal strikes using a jungle knife.

“Our time now is really different from before. The youngsters are so intimidating they have no qualms in participating in violent activities,” said Ian Mark Nacaya, the City Council's majority floor leader, who suggests getting involved the parents in finding a remedy to the prevailing social malady.

Citing a city ordinance on the Parental Responsibility Code that he co-authored with former councilor Enrico Salcedo in 2016, Nacaya said there must be a massive campaign to educate the parents about their responsibility to account for their children, especially those being left unattended and influenced by others.

“We have a booklet on this (Parental Responsibility Code) as (a) guide in the educational campaign that must be pursued on regular basis with the help of the Department of Social Welfare and Development and their city counterparts (CSWD),” Nacaya said.

Fellow councilor Romeo Calizo, who chairs the committee on public order and safety, said the community should not rely solely on the police in dealing with the troubled youth.

“This must be a concerted effort. We should help and understand each other in regard to security matters. We should account for our family members including the grown-up ones,” said Calizo.

Meanwhile, Viñas said the police has its own dialogue going on with identified gang members in the city.

“Whatever the outcome and the output of our heart-to-heart talk with them the media will know and, of course, the identities of the other suspects in the complaint sheet,” Viñas said.

While agreeing that ‘Oplan Rekiza’ popularly known then as ‘Operation Kapkap’ is a must to deter would-be crime offenders, Viñas said that Col. Aaron Mandia, the Cocpo chief, will not also tolerate violation on parts of the city law enforcers.

After the fatal gang war incident, another netizen also shared a video that had gone viral, showing Lumamba and his cohorts being physically abused while entering a police station.

One of the arresting officers gave Lumamba a body punch, while the other hit some of his companions from behind with a stick.

“This will be investigated. The PNP personalities involved must explain, lest they might be facing administrative and criminal charges,’ Viñas said.