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Wednesday, September 22, 2004
Anti-truancy ordinance okayed amid opposition
By Aurea A. Gerundio
DAVAO CITY -- The Davao City Anti-truancy Ordinance, authored by Councilor Mabel Sunga-Acosta, was approved by the City Council on Tuesday despite opposition from non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working for children's rights.
The ordinance will be endorsed to Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte for enactment.
Kabataan Consortium executive director Bernardo Mondragon said they are not totally against the passage of the ordinance, but it has certain provisions that are not favorable, such as the definition of the term "truant."
The ordinance defines "truant" as a student who is absent from school without a valid cause.
"Declaring a child a truant through a local legislation is legitimizing a stigmatizing label. This is a clear violation of the United Nation Convention on the Rights of the Child, which specifically provides that it is the state's obligation to protect children from any form of discrimination," Mondragon said.
Mondragon said that child rights groups believe the ordinance is clearly a declaration that truancy, as defined in the ordinance to be the state or habit of a student of not being present in school during prescribed school hours without any valid reason, is a status offense.
Mondragon further criticized that the ordinance was even passed for third and final reading without them being invited to public hearings.
Council rules stated that deliberation of petitions to a proposed ordinance or resolution should only be conducted while on first and second reading.
"We only knew about this ordinance when we watch her (Councilor Sunga-Acosta) in the Gikan sa Masa television program on Sunday. We were never invited in the public hearings," Mondragon said.
Mondragon said they will submit their petitions to the City Legal Office since the ordinance has yet to be studied and approved by Duterte.
In reaction, Acosta dismissed accusation they had never invited representatives from various groups working for children's rights during public hearings.
"All public hearings were made public. And as a matter of fact, this proposed ordinance has been discussed since the previous council. Bakit ngayon lang sila
lumabas kung kailan final reading na? I will still welcome their petition. But I am hoping as well that the City Legal Office and Mayor Duterte would find merit in the ordinance," Acosta said.
Acosta made it clear she does not intend this to come out negative for children who will be tagged as "truants."
"In fact, the word truant is also being used in PD (Presidential Decree) 603 otherwise known as the Child and Youth Welfare Code," Acosta said.
Councilor Angela Librado-Trinidad also expressed opposition to the passage of the ordinance.
In a message sent to Sun.Star, Trinidad denied "saying yes to an ordinance, which, instead of simply providing social and psychological support to children in school, still matches the 'truant' label to the latter."
"If the intent is only to ensure that children ought to be in school, then there is no need to put a stigma on the children. What ought to be done is strengthen mechanisms in school to ensure that none of the students leave the school premises," Trinidad said.
Trinidad said the anti-truancy law is a patent contravention of existing convention in the rights of the child.
"No less than the child advocate lawyer Eric Mallonga of the Bantay Bata 163 labeled such laws as a status offense, thus, is a violation of the existing national and international laws. My simple point is that we could still prevent evil--that which is absenteeism without cause--without necessarily tagging or labeling children as evil themselves," she said.
Trinidad said that for the adults, the label may just be matter of semantics, but for the children being called as such is as evil as being called criminals.
"On these grounds, while I am on leave, I can't help but raise my opposition to this measure. My opposition is coupled with a lot of concrete suggestions and I am ready to discuss them immediately when I resume work," Trinidad said.
(September 22, 2004 issue)
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