Saturday, May 06, 2006
Social welfare office welcomes new law
By Aquiles Zonio
A SOCIAL welfare official in General Santos City welcomed the recent passage by Congress of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Bill authored by Senator Francis Pangilinan.
Rebecca Magante, city social welfare and development officer, said this is a welcome respite particularly for minors facing criminal cases in court.
Magante said as soon as the bill is signed by the President into law about 70 percent of the criminal cases against children will be scrapped.
She said this would mean that instead of being put to prison, children facing criminal cases would be referred to charitable institutions looking after their welfare or to the social welfare office to undergo rehabilitation process.
Magante added that the bill also elevates the age of child offenders from nine to 15 years old.
Those minors whose age ranges from 15 below are not criminally liable of the crime charged against them unless proven by the prosecution that they acted with judgment.
Magante said the objective of the bill is to protect the rights and welfare of "children in conflict with the law" or the so-called juvenile offenders.
"Many of our children in conflict with the law badly need support and right motivation. Putting them in prison should be the last recourse," Magante said.
She noted that the situation inside the prison is dehumanizing and is not conducive for reformation particularly of the youth offenders.
"We need a juvenile justice system that is not punitive, but the one that is reformative," Maganta said.
She claimed that the government, the offender, even the victim, and the community should play their role in order for the rehabilitation process to succeed.
Under the bill, local government units are tasked to organize Juvenile Justice Network, supposedly a broad coalition of government and non-government agencies responsible in the successful implementation of this law down to the grassroots level.
The network would be composed of representatives from multi-sectoral groups, which includes among others the Philippine National Police, Bureau of Jail Management and Penology, Prosecutor's office, Public Attorney's Office, social welfare office and other agencies advocating protection of children's welfare and safety.
The group would regularly meet to tackle issues affecting the children and to draft local juvenile justice act.
At present, based on police record here, theft and robbery topped the list of offenses committed by minors.
For Bisaya stories from General Santos.Click here. (This section is updated every Monday)
(May 1, 2006 issue)
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