By Minka Klaudia Tiangco Manila City Mayor Francisco "Isko Moreno" Domagoso said the city government did not violate the rights of the minors who were presented to the media after they were nabbed for setting a bunch of balloons on fire, injuring a vendor. Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso
(Manila City Public Information Office / MANILA BULLETIN) "The question is, did we violate any rights? I think that's the question. If we are violating any rights, call our attention, but ‘wag nilang isisiksik sa amin ang paniniwala nila. May kanya-kanya tayong paniniwala (they should not force their beliefs to us. Each of us has our own beliefs). I respect their opinion, I hope they will do the same," he said. The local chief executive said this in response to the Child Rights Network, who recently accused him of "parading" the minors before the media. "The Network recognizes the good intention of the Mayor in addressing the problem. However, we would like to remind him that there are protocols in handling children in conflict with the law which include the confidentiality of the case and protection of identity of the child," the group said in a statement released on Tuesday. "The act of treating youth offenders as criminals by parading them before the media and by tolerating the public to label them as such, would potentially make these children imbibe criminal identity," they added. "The experience subjects them to fear or psychological/emotional trauma that may affect their recovery, rehabilitation and reintegration process," the statement read. Five individuals, four of them minors, who set fire to a bunch of balloons and left the vendor with second-degree burns, were presented to Domagoso on Monday. The presentation of the minors was done before the media and was broadcast live on Facebook. However, the city mayor insisted that no rights were violated during the presentation. He even asked the parents of the minors to cover their faces to prevent shaming them, he said. "We might be the only ones who submit the suspect in the eyes of the public without violating human rights. The assumption is they're innocent until proven guilty, but they are suspect of a crime and the people are crying to give justice to the aggrieved victim," he said in Filipino. "Shouldn't we thank our city government that, in a few hours, we are able to solve the crimes in Manila? What should the city government do?" he added. READ MORE: Cops present to Mayor Isko youth, minor suspects in balloon fire incident