OFTEN, there’s a wide gap between legislation and implementation.
In the context of children in conflict with the law, this means the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) must provide adequate and accessible facilities. Doable on a nationwide scale are provincial juvenile care facilities. Provinces with high numbers of youth offenders can be prioritized.
In many places, these kinds of facilities are poor to non-existent. Recently, Human Rights Commissioner Leah Armamento said there were only 58 “Bahay Pag-asa” (youth care facilities) built out of the 114 required by the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.
DSWD and even the Department of Budget and Management, as early as now, can develop the budget needed for phased-in building of infrastructure and personnel complement. These juvenile care facilities are necessary because the youth offenders must be separated from hardened adult criminals. Congestion would worsen the mental health of the child.
Also, the parents should be held responsible for the actions of the children in conflict with the law. How this can be done by the courts would have to be spelled out in laws or the Supreme Court can be empowered to promulgate the needed rules.
But we’re saying this again: the profile of children in conflict with the law are those who came from poor families and lacks basic education. Holding children as young as nine or 12 years old criminally liable and making them suffer inside detention cells is tantamount to state neglect and abandonment. Instead of criminalizing children, the government should address the roots of poverty that these children continue to live in. It should also provide the necessary facilities and services to help these children.
