Senator pushes bill for juveniles in jail

Senator Francis Pangilinan pushed yesterday for the passage of a bill seeking to prohibit the detention of a minors in conflict with the law with hardened or adult criminals.

The senator toured the congested Caloocan City Jail yesterday to check the actual conditions

"Naririto tayo para makita at ipakita ang problema sa mga batang nakakulong. Itinutulak natin ang Juvenile Justice Bill. It is not right for minors to be treated the same way as adults in the criminal justice system. This is an entirely new approach," Pangilinan said.

Senate Bill 1402, authored by Pangilinan and co-authored by Senators Jamby Madrigal and Aquilino Pimentel Jr., raises the age of criminal responsibility from nine to 12 years old, and explicitly prohibits the detention of minors with adults.

The bill also calls for offenders of petty or victimless crimes to be redirected from the court to diversion programs.

"Gagawan na ng paraan na di na sila kailangang litisin at ikulong bagkus ay isailalim sa diversion program na tuloy na sila sa rehabilitasyon," said lawyer Albert Muyot, project officer of the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) helping to push for the enactment of the comprehensive juvenile justice measure.

Joining the entourage were Unicef country representative Dr. Nicholas Alipui, members of the Juvenile Justice Network Philippines, a multi-sectoral lobby group, Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri, Caloocan RTC Executive Judge Victoria Isabel Paredes and local jail warden Superintendent Alejandro Almacen.

The senator urged media, lobby groups and the people to write their representatives in Congress to push for passage of the bill," Pangilinan said.

Echiverri, for his part, promised to support the bill by actually pushing for more lawyers to attend to the minors’ cases as special counsel for their defense and provide support equipment including computers from the city government.

"We expect to reduce the load by 25 percent within the year. We have been working with the local chapter of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) to decongest the jail and ease the plight of minors now detained," said Echiverri, an Ateneo law graduate. — With Pete Laude