Balay asks lawmakers to spare children from violence and ill treatment

Balay and its partners held a public action in front of the House of Representatives on May 23 to draw public attention to the proposal to detain child offenders  between  nine years old but below 18 years old as they “await court disposition of their cases.”

Holding signs to spare children from violence and ill treatment, they asked lawmakers to refrain from amending the law to allow the confinement of   minors as young as nine years old in ‘residential facilities’ known as Bahay Pag-Asa (House of Hope). The minimum age of criminal responsibility under the existing Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (JJWA)  is set at 15 years old.  

Member of nine civil society groups participated in the public action. They said that placing suspected child offenders in facilities of confinement is practically the same as putting them in jail that  are usually crowded and  being run under restrictive regulations.  According to Balay, a significant number of   child offenders in a  juvenile residential facility in Metro Manila have been ill treated or tortured by authorities before  they were sent for confinement in  a juvenile home. 

The public action coincided with the meeting of  lawmakers consisting the House Sub-Committee  on Correctional  Reforms  that approved a proposal to, among others,  place  convicted children in an agricultural camp or training facilities under the supervision and control of the bureau of corrections.  The legislators also recommended the  imprisonment of  parents of erring children who fail to comply with mandatory counselling sessions with government social workers.

Balay said that  authorities should  focus on the full implementation of the juvenile justice law instead which provides for, among others, the allocation of  substantial government funds to the rehabilitation programs for children in conflict with the law, the effective  activation of the local councils for the protection of children,  and better child protection measures, including the enforcement of the Anti-Torture Act.