Kids should not be sent to jail

Watching CNN’s coverage of the 2008 American presidential elections, much of the world was thrilled, fascinated, electrified, by the election of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

Obama conceded that his victory was not his, but that of America. The 44th US president-elect was such a joy to watch and listen to; he was cool, charismatic, eloquent, and, incidentally, handsome as handsome as he could be, as he challenged everyone in his country to work for a “United America.” He said the journey would be long, there would be initial failures, the goals might not be met in his first year or even up to the end of his term, but he said, “America, we’ve come so far, we’ve seen so much, we have so much to do.”

Obama said now it was possible for anyone to become president, whether one was white, non-white, Latino or Asian. His victory was proof of the racial hurdle having been overcome with 55 percent of people voting for him being white.

Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said she was proud that Obama was African-American. Civil Rights leader Jesse Jackson, who had been shown unabashedly shedding tears of joy and disbelief, said Obama’s election was like — “At a time when it’s dark you see the stars quickly . . . (Obama) seems to embody within his body (the message of hope).” And Oprah Winfrey, now dubbed the latest ‘kingmaker,” went wild, cheering for the candidate to whose campaign coffers she had contributed millions. And Martin Luther King III said he was electrified by Obama’s election and that his late father, the legendary Martin Luther King Jr. and mother, Coretta King, would have felt the same way about America’s first African-American president.

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Responding to my column of November 4, Teresita Quinto of Barangay San Andres, Cainta, Rizal, writes that based on her first-hand dealings with the Land Transportation Office, she believes that the LTO Information Technology project as executed by the private firm Stradcom has made believers out of the people transacting business with the many LTO offices nationwide. Take the LTO Cainta, Rizal Branch, for example. It has become a paragon of how a government agency should be run.

According to Ms. Quinto, “When LTP Cainta was still housed in a warehouse along Imelda Avenue, I dreaded sweating it out there for hours and days on end to get my driver’s license. But with the said LTO branch transferring to Ortigas Extension Avenue and with the LTO IT program now in full swing, I am able to get my license in a couple of hours.

“You just go from one window to another, pay the fees to the cashier, have your picture taken digitally and voila! the driver’s license is released to you in another window. The registration of vehicles under the Stradcom-LTO system has also been fast-tracked and made more convenient to the public.

“To me and, I believe to the silent majority benefiting from the LTO IT project, the noise being made by some against it may be motivated by a desire to take over the project. The LTO computerization system is heaven-sent as it all but removed human intervention in LTO processes, thereby leaving little room if any, for corrupt people to operate.”

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In 2006, the landmark Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act was passed, giving thousands of children around the Philippines a new lease on life. Prior to the passage of this law, children who had committed petty crimes, like snatching a fruit from a vendor, were detained in jails where they were lumped with hardened adult criminals, and exposed to physical and sexual abuse.

The new law has two significant features. One, the age of criminal responsibility was raised from 9 to 15 years, and two, instead of the youthful offenders being hauled off to jail, they are sent to community-based programs for rehabilitation, counseling, skills training, education, and other activities that will enhance their well-being, and as much as possible, returned to their families who also receive counseling to deal with the offenders. Perhaps, parents have been the cause of their offspring’s delinquent behavior.

The Juvenile Justice Law, as the act is popularly called, is a landmark piece of legislation. At a Bulong Pulungan at Sofitel Hotel media forum, Atty. Alberto T. Muyot, child protection specialist at the United Nations Fund-Philippines, said RA No. 9344 is the first to tackle children in conflict with the law, and establishes a comprehensive program for setting standards in the treatment and care of these children.

Social Welfare Undersecretary Alicia R. Bala told the audience that at any given year, some 10,000 to 11,000 children are reported to the police for petty offenses, and 1,000 end up being convicted. As of 2007, 2,248 children were released from detention, and from January to March this year, 530.

The United Nations Fund, or UNICEF, has been actively supporting the movement for the restorative approach to juvenile offenses. According to Bala, the agency has helped put up two rehabilitation centers, one in Guimaras, another in Cebu City.

Bala brought to the forum a girl she called Jenny, who, five years ago, at the age of 13, had been mistakenly arrested for selling a prohibited drug. Jenny was placed in jail for months, but with the new law, she was released, given counseling and financial assistance by social workers. She is now one of the top students in her class.   

Just when things have become brighter for young offenders, two congressmen have filed bills to lower the age of criminality to nine or ten years from 15. The lawmakers claim that they have reports that children are being used by criminal syndicates.

Attorney Muyot said UNICEF “is of the view that reducing the minimum age of criminal responsibility is not the solution to the use of children 15 years or below in the commission of crimes. It will violate the very essence of justice if children who have been exploited by criminal syndicates are penalized instead of the adults who had exploited them.”

Muyot and Bala challenged media to give children a “second chance” by rallying against the passage of the two bills, and help build the capacities of communities and educating barangay officials, policemen and social workers about the law.

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