MANILA, Philippines How do you make criminals out of children?

? Put them in areas where they wont be able to meet their basic needs for food, water, shelter, health care, education and sanitation. Strip them of their rights to develop and maintain a life of dignity so that theyll grow up uneducated and unemployed. Mire them in places where there is no solution to despair and destitution. In the Philippines, where the plight of majority of the poor remains largely unaddressed, many places become breeding grounds for youth offenders. While many of these children were able to rise from the rut--proving that poverty isnt a justifiable excuse for committing crime-thousands of other juveniles have failed to get out of the trap and are forced to break the law primarily to survive. At the Center for Restorative Activities Development and Learning Experiences (CRADLE) in Camp Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig City, most of the 74 male children aged 15 and above who are accused of crimes come from poor families, mostly from depressed areas in Paranaque, Pasig, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, San Juan, and Malabon. The place is run by the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology. Pinakamaraming kaso ng mga bata sa amin ay crime against property tulad ng theft at robbery. Galing sila sa pamilyang mahihiraphindi sila nakapag-aral. Kailangan nilang tumulong sa pamilya, kailangang kumita ng pera," says Norma Marcelino, social welfare officer of CRADLE where children in conflict with the law (CICL) are being housed while their cases are being heard in family courts. [Most of the cases involving CICLs in CRADLE consist of crimes against property such as theft and robberyMost of them come from poor families, they couldnt attend schoolThey need to help their families, they need to earn money.] At the DSWDs Marillac Hills in Muntinlupa City also known as the National Training School for Girls, 28 female CICLs also aged 15 and above are housed while their criminal cases are being heard in the courts. Here, stories of poor girls from far-flung provinces victimized by internal trafficking are not uncommon. Many of them who were forced to work as house help or caregivers in the metropolis were also charged with theft or robbery. We house several of them here. I knew of one 16-year-old girl from a poor farming community in Davao del Sur who was forced to work as a maid somewhere in Rizal province. Her employer charged her with qualified theft, says Eva Villegas, a veteran social worker at Marillac.

Villegas says the girl received a phone call from a man whom she said sounded like her employer, and told her to bring money and jewelry to a certain place. The girl even went back to the house of her employer not knowing that it was not her boss but a different person who talked to her on the phone, says Villegas. CICLs in Tondo In District I-Tondo consisting of 163 barangays, social worker Ma. Raquel Tubale of the Manila Department of Social Welfare (MDSW) doesnt hide the fact that in her area, particularly in Parola or Barangay 20 where she is assigned, the rate of crimes involving children mostly from large but poor families are among the highest in the districts of Manila. She says that CICLs in District I Tondo, some as young as nine years old, are often engaged in property-related crimes such as theft and robbery, a matter attributed to deprivation and poverty. According to Tubale, many of these CICLs are repeat offenders who start with committing petty crimes and then graduate on to being hardened criminals. Pickpocket lang dati, hanggang sa mang-snatch ng gamit, ma-involve sa robbery-hold-up tapos sumama sa mga grupo ng akyat-bahay gang [They start as pickpockets, then as snatchers and robbers until they become members of a group of house burglars], says Tubale. From February to August 2011,the MDSW in District I in Tondo recorded a total of 366 CICLs in the area or about 52 CICLs monthly, many of them engaged in property-related crimes and are repeat if not chronic offenders. Crimes involving CILCs from depressed communities in District I are particularly rampant in Parola, according to Councilor Arnel Bong Parce, head of Barangay 20s Committee on Peace and Order. He says the barangays daily crime blotter is always filled with records of repeat youth offenders, mostly members of akyat-bahay gangs. Yung makapal naming blotter book kung minsan after two months lang ubos na ang pahina at dapat nang palitan dahil napuno na ngrecords ng CICLs [Sometimes we need to replace our thick blotter book with a new one after only two months because the previous one had already been filled with cases of CICLs], Parce says.

Tragically, drugs is a key driver of crime, and may account, according to those who have observed the juvenile justice system since the 60s, for the anecdotal evidence of more and more of the younger offenders being implicated in not just petty crimes like theft, but occasionally even heinous ones like rape and murder. Parce observes that most of the CICLs in his barangay first get high on drugs before they carry out the crime. Marami dito tumitira muna ng solvent o acetone bago gumawa ng masama. National data on CICLs Current statistics and CICL profiles from DSWD rehabilitation centers and from Tondo are reflective of earlier government national data on youth offenders -- an indication that the problem has persisted through the years. A report from the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) shows that more than 52,000 children from 1995 to 2000 were reported to be in conflict with the law. Separate data from the DSWD show that from 2001 to 2010, there were close to 64,000 CICLs served by the government. The presence of CICLs was highest in Region VI or Western Visayas, the National Capital Region, and Region XI or the Davao Region throughout the period. Another 2010 report from the CWC on the Situationer on Filipino Children presents the profile of CICLs: usually male between the ages of 14 and 17; has low educational attainment; belongs to large, lowearning families of six members; charged with property-related crimes; use drugs; and alcohol; and has stopped schooling. Holistic, restorative justice approach Government efforts at resolving problems of CICLs resulted in the enactment of Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006. Until the passage of R.A. 9344, the rules and procedures applicable to CICLs were no different from those being used for adult offenders, especially during the Marcos administration when the Judiciary Reorganization Act abolished in 1980 the juvenile and domestic relations courts. This resulted in the criminalization of children as general courts subjected minors to the same adversarial proceedings faced by adult suspects.

R.A. 9344 envisioned a holistic and restorative justice approach to addressing the plight of CICLs. Instead of punishing juvenile offenders and treating them as criminals, the approach aims at providing help to CICLs to prevent them from committing future offenses. Under this method, efforts at rehabilitating CICLs require the victim and the community to take an active role in the process. Furthermore, the law prohibits the detention of children in jails. It likewise raises the age of criminal responsibility from nine under Presidential Decree 603 to a minimum of 15 years old. RA 9344 also exempts CICLs aged 15 and above from criminal liability unless the prosecution proves that they acted with discernment or the capacity to determine what is right and wrong. Instead of going to trial, the law provides for the referral of childrens cases to community-based rehabilitation programs as well as juvenile delinquency prevention programs, rehabilitation, reintegration, and aftercare services. A year after RA 9344s implementation, data from the DSWD show that from a record of 8,661 CICLs served by the agency in 2006, the number decreased to a yearly average of about 2,500 from 2007 to 2009. Rosalie Dagulo, chief of the DSWDs Alternative Care and Placement Program Division, explains that the decreasing number of CICLs served by the agency did not mean that the number of youth offenders also went down. She says that it only meant that the CICLs were no longer subjected to punitive punishment but were reintegrated with their parents after undergoing rehabilitation process under the supervision of communitybased shelter centers. Solution under attack However, five years since it was implemented, some lawmakers, government officials, and law enforcers found RA 9344 ineffective. Some claimed that instead of addressing crimes involving minors, the law made the problem worse. Among the laws critics is Sen. Francis Chiz Escudero who is proposing that the minimum age of criminal responsibility be lowered back to nine as stipulated under P.D. 603 or the Child and Youth Welfare Code of 1974. Escudero, chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, claims that RA 9344s raising of the age of criminal responsibility

to 15 has resulted in more crimes perpetrated by minors. He says that criminal syndicates use juveniles in their illegal operations because they know that under the law, minors can go scot-free even if they act as drug couriers and crime agents. The senators point was highlighted after the media recently reported the case of Batang Hamog, a group of children caught on camera attacking vehicles in Makati City that were stuck in traffic during rush hours. The groups modus operandi is for a member to knock on the window of the unsuspecting driver while other members open the car door on the other side and snatch whatever valuables they could take from the vehicle. Sen. Panfilo Lacson, former PNP chief, shares Escuderos view. Though he doesnt want minors to be put inside prison cells of common criminals, the legislator also wants CICLs punished. If you will notice, the age of the minors involved in crimes is getting younger. How can we serve justice if they are exempted in the crime they are committing? says Lacson. Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo also wants the law amended, for the same reasons pointed out by Escudero. Robredo says that based on police intelligence reports, minors are getting bolder and braver in committing crimes because they now know that they will not be punished for their acts but will only be turned over to the DSWD. A policeman interviewed recently by InterAksyon.com who requested anonymity says that in District I-Tondo, some parents from depressed areas who know about the exemptions under RA 9344 are involved in the crimes committed by their children. May mga kaso dito ng robbery-snatching na iyong magulang na lalaki ang magnanakaw tapos i-aabot doon sa bata tapos tatakbo. Pag nakaligtas yung bata, presto, instant money, na pwedeng panustos sa pangangailangan nila," the policeman says. [There are cases here of robbery-snatching involving fathers. They hand over their loot to their children who go scot-free with the instant money, which their family will use for their needs.] This is also why PNP chief Nicanor Bartolome is now urging Congress to amend the law. He wants the age of discernment lowered to 12

because at that age, the child is already in the right mind and can already think about the consequences of his actions. Bartolome made the call after a series of high-profile crimes involving children took place last September. Among them are the cases of the 13-year-old boy who shot his 16-year-old companion and then himself at the SM Mall in Pampanga; the 12-year-old boy accused of raping a three-year-old girl in Sta. Mesa, Manila; and the 15-year-old boy who admitted robbing, raping and nearly killing his employer in Sta. Rosa, Laguna. Effective implementation, not amendment But for the laws supporters, amending RA 9344, specifically on lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility, is a short-sighted solution. For DSWD division chief Dagulo, the effective implementation of the law and not its amendment will ensure the laws success. The problem on CICLs will not end and there can never be genuine justice if the people see that the child should be solely responsible for the crimes he committed, but dont take into account that its the political and socio-economic system that created the problem in the first place and that the child was only a victim of such systemic weakness, says Dagulo. Among the actions being proposed by the DSWD to ensure effective implementation of law is for the DILG to monitor LGU compliance with the provision related to the use of 1 percent of internal revenue allotment in support of the implementation of RA 9344. The law mandates that the said IRA fund be utilized for the formation of Barangay Councils for the Protection of Children (BCPC) nationwide. Among the specific functions of the BCPCs are the following: -Foster education of every child in the barangay; -Encourage the proper performance of the duties of parents and provide learning opportunities on the adequate rearing of children and positive parent-child relationship; -Report all cases of child abuse to the proper authorities; -Protect and assist abandoned, maltreated, and abused children and facilitate their cases filed against child abusers;

-Prevent child labor in their area and protect working children from abuse and exploitation; -Take steps to prevent juvenile delinquency and to assist children with behavioral problems so that they can get expert advice; - Adopt measures to promote the health and nutrition of children; -Promote the opening and maintenance of playgrounds and day care centers and other services that are necessary for child and youth welfare; -Secure the cooperation of organizations devoted to the welfare of children and coordinate their activities; -Promote wholesome entertainment in the community especially in movie houses; -Assist parents whenever necessary in securing expert guidance counselling from the proper governmental or private welfare agencies; -Advocate for the passage of child-friendly barangay ordinances in response to child-related issues and concerns; -Prepare the barangay plans of action for children which address the needs of children in the community and ensure their integration into the Barangay Development Plan and implementation by the barangay. Non-functioning councils for child protection But five years since since RA 9344 was enacted, DILG data showed that as of December 2010, only 13 percent or 5,208 of the 39,535 barangays that submitted information to the department had functioning BCPs; at least 3,876 barangays had no report on BCPC functionality. The non-functioning councils include 157 of the 163 barangays of District I-Tondo. Data from the Manila Department of Social Welfare show that only six barangays in the district Barangays 29, 61, 101, 105, 123 and 128, have fully functional BCPCs. But the DILG doubts that the 5,208 barangays that it listed having ideal BCPCs are indeed fully functional. According to Nesia Seneca of the DILGs Institutional Linkages and Networking Division, the agency is set to conduct field investigation to verify if the supposedly ideal BCPCs are indeed working effectively. Seneca says the investigation was prompted by reports from some nongovernment organizations working for the welfare of children that some

BCPCs were not as ideal as the barangays claim. Shortcuts in handling CICL cases Another problem in the implementation of RA 9344 is the big gap in the intervention process of handling CICLs, according to Dagulo. In the DSWD flow chart of handling CICL cases, a child aged 15 or below who commits a crime should be placed under the custody of a law enforcement officer who then looks for the childs parent or guardian. The officer has to assess whether the child would be in danger if he or she returns to his or her parents. If safety is assured, the officer releases the child to the parents or guardian. But if the officer determines that the child had suffered from neglect, abandonment, or abuse, the child should undergo an intervention program. Under RA 9344, such program refers to a series of individualized treatment activities or programs designed to address issues that caused the child to commit an offense. These may include counseling, skills training, education, and other activities meant to improve and enhance the childs psychological, emotional and psycho-social well-being. If the officer determines that the child will be in danger if he or she stays with the parents or guardian, the officer should encourage temporary custody where a child is committed to a youth home, a government rehabilitation facility, or a non-government organization that caters to the needs of children. In cases where the parents or guardian are unavailable, it will be the responsibility of the local social welfare and development officer to refer the child in conflict with the law to at least five entities a duly registered NGO, a faith-based organization, a barangay officer, a member of the BCPC, and an officer from the DSWD - for them to carry out programs and interventions to rehabilitate the child before he or she is reintegrated to the family and community. But there are many instances when the process is cut short, according to Dagulo. There are many cases when intervention programs are not carried out and the child is just returned to the parent or guardian, she says. Dagula attributes this intervention gap to these factors: the lack of information among law enforcers and local officials, LGUs that have different priorities, role overload being experienced especially by social workers, and/or the lack of consciousness and understanding on the

importance of promoting and defending the interest of disadvantaged children. Address the roots of the problem The DSWD admits that while the five-year-old law offers a lasting solution to the plight of CICLs, the government needs to intensify its popularization, especially its basic provisions for a better appreciation of the principles of restorative justice. For party-list Akap Bata, the solution to the plight of CICLs does not lie in lowering the age of criminal responsibility but in addressing the root cause of the problem: poverty that pushes children to commit criminal acts. These young people are victims of neglect, poverty, hunger, malnutrition and so many other forms of social injustice. They are the very ones who have the right to demand changes in how the country is run because they are the biggest victims along with their parents. They come from the most exploited sectors of society, says Lean Peace Flores, Akap Bata spokesperson. For DSWDs Eva Villegas, who has been working for the rights of children for the last 17 years, the change shouldnt just come from the children and from their parents. The community, the local government, and the national government as a whole should also be ready to change for the child to change and have a better future. Otherwise, it will just be another vicious circle, Villegas concludes.