Kids’ summit caps national children’s month

KIDS will have the last say - at least chronologically - in this 20th National Children’s Month that adults launched through a “Kapihan” media forum last Wednesday morning at the City Social Welfare and Development Office.

The young will express their thoughts and sentiments at a Children’s Summit on October 25-26 and then show off their artistic expressions at the “Children Got More Talent” city level competition on October 29 to cap the month-long observance.

The observance attempts to bring substance to the theme “Bright Child ay Siguraduhin, Responsableng Pamamahayag ay Palaganapin.”

The month opened on a positive note, with City Mayor Mauricio Domogan reporting a remarkable decrease in the number of child abuse cases and those on children in conflict with the law (CICL).

The CICL figures for the past three years were 486, 490 and 488, but expected to dip dramatically this year as only 79 cases were recorded for the first six months.

The yearly child abuse cases from 2007 to 2011 were 293, 162, 121, 134 and 160 while 49 cases were recorded for the first six months of the current year.

The mayor, city councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda and the other panelists favored the proposed lowering of the age of children exempted from liability for criminal offenses from 15 to 12 years old.

Police reports show that criminal syndicates use kids up to 15 years old because of the law exempting these minors from liability.

Likewise, the mayor said that while corporal punishment may now be a no-no in disciplining children, it was, until recently, accepted as an effective means employed by responsible parents to bring errant kids back on line. (Ramon Dacawi)