TACLOBAN CITY, Philippines — Regional Trial Court Judge Cicero Lampasa last week ordered Senior Superintendent Rolando Bade, Tacloban City Police Office director, to appear in court on February 6, 2017 to personally explain why he failed to comply with court orders and processes of not detaining a juvenile law violator for a long time.
Lampasa, of RTC-Catbalogan City (Samar) and assisting judge at the RTC-Tacloban City’s Family Court, had for several times called the attention of the policemen assigned at the TCPO’s lock-up unit for not turning over minor offenders to the Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth (RRCY) in Tanauan, Leyte.
Citing a situation in an RTC Tacloban case he was hearing against a minor “Juanito” (identity withheld), he ordered the transfer of the detained minor to the RRCY.
Two months passed but “Juanito” remained in jail in spite of the court order. The police contended that the RRCY management do not simply accept children in conflict with the law (CICL) if not accompanied by a Social Case Study Report prepared by a government-appointed social welfare officer.
“Republic Act 9344 also known as the ‘Juvenile Justice Welfare Act of 2006’ recognizes the right of the CICL not to be detained together with adult offenders,” Lampasa said. “This law provides that the Court shall not order the detention of a child in a jail pending trial or hearing of his or her case,” he added.
“Institutionalization or detention of the child pending trial shall be used only as measure of last resort and for the shortest possible period of time,” the judge clarified.
Although the case of “Juanito” was provisionally dismissed on the specified date due to “apparent lack of interest of the complainant to pursue with the case,” the court deemed it important to know what stops the police from turning over CICLs to the RRCY.
There were instances that CICLs eventually turned to age of maturity through the years of being incarcerated inside the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology-run Tacloban City Jail due to the lack of social case study report from the Tacloban City Social Welfare and Development Office.
Chona Bahin, a TCSWDO social welfare officer in charge of drafting SCS reports, disclosed in a separate interview that she has singlehandedly been taking the task of locating and interviewing parents, family members and guardians of quite a number of CICLs.
She expressed hope that with the designation of another social worker to carry on same task in the office, the back log will be minimized and the CICLs will have their SCS reports soon.
The RRCY has a standing policy of accepting only those who could show their respective SCS reports with favorable recommendation from the social welfare officer of the CICL’s locality.
Bahin said police officers who have tried to turn in a CICL to RRCY would somehow receive flak from RRCY management for not following the institution’s policy of showing a SCS report first. She added that not all CICLs recommended to be admitted to RRCY are being admitted to the institution.
Bahin also said her request to the court to tap social workers of trial courts in assisting on the social case study reports of CICLs so the latter will be sent to the RRCY and not languish in jails together with hardened criminals. Lampasa has yet to hold a conference among the court’s social workers and of the CSWDO on the matter. (FREEMAN)