Mind-blowing state of the children

Spare the rod, spoil the child. With Mayor Sara Duterte’s highly-anticipated State of the City Address (SOCA) come Aug. 20 inside SP session hall, what could possibly be brought out is a situationer of the city’s children. Political leaders, law enforcement officers, and concerned agencies from all quarters lambast, again, Republic Act No. 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006. Here, we will see the real crouching culprit in the rising incidence of youth violence.

It is no less than the father of the city, Vice-Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte, rallied behind the amendment of RA 9344.  Senator Francis Pangilinan, author of the law, may have committed miscalculations in the stubborn reality of children’s criminal tendencies. The Pangilinan law seeks to absolve a Filipino below 18 from any criminal liability no matter how heinous the act absent of the requirement on discernment on the part of the minor. Another sad part, children below 15 years old doing a crime will be absolved without the requirement on discernment.

The records of the City Social Services and Development Office (CSSDO) reveal some 344 children who are considered children in conflict with the law in quarter 1 of 2011. With this number, 299 were boys and were released on recognizance, bail, custody supervision or intervention. A Social worker under CSSDO got worried about the multiplication of children involved in criminal acts. She said, children apprehended used to carry certificates of live birth as their shield for protection against law enforcement authorities. With the resistance of the adversary under the cloak of minority, our enforcers are likely posed to throw in the towel, ironically, just because of these children?. And so, our government is faced in an awkward dilemma.

Children considered at risk suffered from many factors like personal, family and social circumstances. Before the implementation of RA 9344, children’s issues (except probably with those in war-torn areas) plunged violence rate practically giving law enforcers some ease as the implementation come out handy. Today, enforcers may have fears about being crucified in public if they will not go easy about children committing infractions of our ordinances and offenses under our penal laws. All the more that the youth becomes emboldened and the police to shrink in their pants when in all angles, both legal and actual battle, the law on the matter would cost the police his liberty or even life.

In a city where economic growth always takes the highlight, a re-visit to some laws which would be very critical in the next generation to come is also needed. Davao City does not lack the protection to children because of a very clear agenda of the government for the growth of children as laid down in its Child and Youth and Welfare Program (CYWP) which catered services to children needing protection and the Pag-asa Youth Association under CSSDO. In 2010, CYWP had served 6,031 children needing protection, like those who have undergone child labor, exploitation, sexual or emotional abuses,etc .

In the 2010 CSSDO report, it states: children aging 6 – 15 years old were engaged in shoplifting and overstaying at the street during late hours. In response to RA 9344, Minors who committed crimes with pending cases were temporary sheltered at Lamdag sa Kabataan - a temporary residential shelter and protective services, though some cases were handed over the their community or parents to personally address the problems of children who committed such crimes.

There were at least 40 intervention programs prepared by CSSDO last year utilizing all its district offices to address the pressing concerns on children. Parents were more than half the primary target. However, parents were too busy because accordingly, they have to work to earn money. So, again and again and again, poverty is still the grandfather to these recurring issues. Our government cannot be blamed even if we say we tend to see the hole of the donut and not the donut itself.

When the embers of truth subside on the issue on Juvenile Justice Act, everybody’s foresight will then be put to question. As in this case, it is an evil which involves everybody. Lahat tayo ay may pananagutan, to to speak. Accountability to the people at any time, with its corresponding high price, would be a constitutional barrier of those who share Pangilinan’s thought in pursuing with the implementation of the law on juvenile justice in this country.