On both sides of the law

MANILA, Philippines - Egmedio “Bill” Felisan Jr. was 13 when he was arrested for theft in Cebu. Thirty years later, he is a model policeman, awarded for his work for troubled youth.

How did a lawbreaker become a law enforcer?

“I was a CICL (child in conflict with the law) before,” SPO2 Felisan told STARweek.

As a child, he was used to being chased off the streets by angry policemen, smacked hard and made to clean toilets. He lived in a shanty with his parents – his father was a stevedore while his mother was an occasional vendor, but their gambling and drinking made their already scarce resources even scarcer.

“At times, we would just put salt into the boiling water so it would taste like soup,” he relates in Cebuano.

The young Bill had to scavenge from trash piles or dive for coins thrown into the water by passengers of docking ships. They would pilfer from sacks of rice and corn that were being unloaded, or take away the slippers of sleeping passengers on the boats and sell them.

“For me, it was really just survival. And nobody really told us not to do it,” he recalls.

But it was in 1981 when Bill, driven by hunger, stole a fish head (“I thought the owner would not eat it anymore”) and ended up with 15 other youngsters rounded up by the police in what was called Operation Fishnet. They were called tuyom, the Cebuano term for sea urchin, and were made to feel they were what the term literally meant – a thorny presence on the streets and in the society.

Bill couldn’t forget the year, because the city was preparing for the arrival of the late Pope John Paul II, and it was also Sinulog festival time when large numbers of visitors would descend on Cebu.

Previously, they were gathered and sent off to Kawit Island “as visitors were coming and they were saying we might snatch their belongings or beg them for money. But because we grew up in the pier, we knew how to swim our way out. So we were able to escape.”

This time around, however,  “when I got caught, I was brought by the police to the Community Scouts center. It had just opened at Cebu’s reclamation area.”

The little boy became frightened. His hatred towards the policemen made him entertain darker thoughts as to his fate at this so-called center, the location of which seemed desolate and isolated.

The Community Scouts was born out of an ordinance passed by the city government, as a diversionary program for children in conflict with the law to keep them from entering the formal justice system, to be manned by the Cebu City Police Office. The center has since gotten the support of high-profile organizations like the UNICEF.

Bill would be part of the pioneering batch brought to the center.

At the Community Scouts, they were fed, provided with shelter, made to go to school, received counseling, taught life skills, and disciplined like Boy Scouts.

Bill found parental love in its then administrator, Sgt. Teresita Ayag and her husband and the center’s scoutmaster, Sgt. Teodoro Ayag.

“We were told that if we really want to change, they’ll send us to school,” he recalls.

Seeing the value of the program, Bill also brought to the center his two younger siblings (one of whom is now a traffic enforcer).

With the support of the Community Scouts, education became a reality. He was able to pass a placement test when he was in second-year high school at the University of the Visayas that he got accelerated to the college level. He was given a scholarship and took up Industrial Technology at the Cebu State College of Science and Technology.

By this time, his perception of policemen had dramatically changed. He now wanted to be like his foster parents.

After finishing his course, he studied to become a policeman.

Bill became an OIC of the Community Scouts after Ayag retired. The center is now under the management of city hall.

Nevertheless, the father of three remains an inspiration and a strong presence in Cebu’s CICL efforts. He is a sought-after resource speaker, trainer and organizer of neighborhood scouting efforts, giving out trainings at the different barangays and municipalities in Cebu province, introducing the intervention/diversion program and sharing what he learned at the Community Scouts.

His experience with CILC is why, despite the controversy surrounding the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (RA 9344), he lauds and fully supports it because of its diversion program and for pushing a restorative system, “meaning you give the child the chance to reform.”

“It’s just that it has not been sincerely implemented because of the lack of resources.” He also cited the lack of rehabilitation centers at the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), so children have to be let go.

He wishes, “If only every municipality will have a youth home for rehab; that’s the purpose of the law.”

In neighborhood scouting, he involves CICL, and they would be compelled to go to school because “you can’t be scouts if you don’t go to school.”

After the kids graduate from scouting (which is also incorporated with values education and catechism), they are turned over to the barangay, and if these children show potential and interest, they will be supported by the barangay/municipality through scholarships.

His neighborhood scouting has earned the support of the Boy Scouts of the Philippines and other likeminded groups such as the Cebu-based Children’s Legal Bureau, an alternative law group championing children’s rights, and the Dilaab Foundation, the volunteer-driven, church-based movement for “heroic citizenship.”

Bill, however, says that his inspiring story is not unique.

He proudly notes there’s another graduate of the Community Scouts who also became a policeman. A former snatcher became part of their scouting program, and because he was a fast-runner, they entered him into a track and field program, and now he’s a proud college degree holder.

There’s also a teacher who once was part of an akyat bahay robbery gang, but when he got shot, they entered him in the diversion program. He was enrolled in night school and graduated valedictorian. Now, he’s in college and performing well.

Bill has received awards for his work, including recognition as Most Outstanding Policeman of Cebu in 2008. But there’s nothing like the appreciation of seeing a former ward doing well in life after the intervention and diversion program. During one training in Naga, Cebu, one teacher approached him and said that she was one of the graduates of his neighborhood scouting.

But these success stories don’t happen overnight. Every child is unique, Bill says, and they need close monitoring but more so, encouragement and plenty of chances. 

“Change doesn’t happen right away. They will leave the scouting, then come back, then leave again, and then return again.”

But he draws strength from his own story – if he did it, so can they.

“There are those who are not successful, it makes you sad, but being the caregiver, you don’t give up. We’ve seen and experienced how effective this is, so we’re not giving up. We shouldn’t feel discouraged.”