Saturday, June 02, 2007 S. Mindanao just No. 10 in CICLs By Grace L. Plata
A REPORT by a national daily saying that Southern Mindanao tops the list in the number of children in conflict with the law (CICLs) is wrong, the Department of Social Welfare and Services (DSWD)-Southern Mindanao said.
Rather, the region tops the services and interventions given to a child in trouble.
The Manila Standard Today reported in its region page last Tuesday that Region 11 or Southern Mindanao has the most number of cases with 1,247.
"But the truth is we only have 658 cases regionwide, 413 of these are from Davao City," said Raquel Nuñez, head of the Community-Based Service Unit of the DSWD-Southern Mindanao.
The report, she said, has sparked incredulity among local agencies and concern among parents and educators.
"Makaingon ba sila na ing-ana na diay ang scenario diri which is dili maayo ang impact sa tanan (People were saying, so the situation here has already worsened)," Nuñez said.
Nuñez said those who have released the information to the papers may have added the original number of cases (685) with the number of those who are undergoing rehabilitation plus the number of rehabilitation services, thus padding the numbers.
"Dili dapat ana ang interpretation kay ang (The interpretation of the numbers shouldn't be that was because) 685 is the headcount of the children. They might have counted the number of services and interventions instead of the children mao nang nidako (that's why the number ballooned)," Nuñez said.
She explained that one child can avail of multiple services depending on the kind of intervention or rehabilitation plan the child is subjected to.
With the correct count, the region is actually No. 10 out of the 13 regions, and is thus among the lowest.
However, Nuñez admitted that CICL cases in the region have increased from 2005 with 646 cases to 2006 with 685 cases.
For the first quarter of 2007, 46 new cases are listed while there are 28 carryover cases from 2006.
"Carryover cases are those that are still processed especially ones that happened during November-December of last year," Nuñez said.
She added that a contributory factor to such cases is the increasing number of drop-outs and out-of-school youths as they are more vulnerable to exploitation.
To address this, DSWD is strengthening efforts to re-educate parents and orient the public of its responsibility to the growth and development of children aside from capacitating social workers and other partner agencies.
Nuñez said it may not be a 100 percent solution but there is really nothing else more effective than that of a consolidated, multi-disciplinary approach to minimize the problem.
