Sunday, September 24, 2006 Prosecutors get child-friendly
At the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor where the lawyers’ lounge used to be is a small room with whitewashed walls and hand paintings of pink daisies.
Provincial Prosecutor Jane Petralba painted the flowers herself, spending a few minutes for the chore every afternoon. Earlier this week, she painted two new elements to the mural - a rainbow and a multi-colored ball.
The room will be the future site of an interview room for child abuse victims, Petralba revealed, adding that over 90 percent of all child-related complaints filed at her office involve sexual assault; nearly half of it have relatives as offenders.
On inquest, prosecutors are required to subject the child to some level of questioning to determine the veracity of the charges hurled.
The task is often stressful to the child victim. But Petralba believes that having a special and more conducive place for this lessens the trauma.
Special needs
“It’s high time that we have a facility here that will cater to the specific special needs of the victims,” she said.
The lawyers’ lounge was given up for the project and materials left over from some Capitol projects were used in the construction.
A one-way mirror will be installed so that prosecutors handling a case may observe unnoticed while specialists interview the child-victims.
“We consulted the DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) over the design and they said it was suitable,” Petralba revealed.
Assistant Provincial Prosecutor Lolita “Gingging” Lomanta, who is currently taking up post graduate studies in Child Psychology, will be in charge of the new white room.
Petralba hopes the project will be complete before the 26th, when the Office of the Provincial Prosecutor celebrates its anniversary.
Wall paintings
As to her hands-on involvement in the wall painting, Petralba said it was a good way to “take time off reading, reviewing and approving resolutions.”
First, she drew the flowers on the wall by pencil and traced the markings with paint; green enamel for the stem and pink for the petals.
“I asked people from the Fine Arts department of the University of the Philippines to do it but they said they can’t do it until the semestral break. I can’t wait long,” she said. (KNR0
