Tell it to SunStar: Second chances

READING the essay “Age of Innocence,” there was a question posed - “What do the judges of family courts and the prosecutors assigned to them have to say about the matter?” This made me recall the opinion I posted on my FB timeline four years ago entitled “ Second Chances.” The cases mentioned were committed by minors but are above 15 and one day old. Minors below 15 and one day old are exempt from criminal liability under Republic Act 9344 and are not supposed to be detained. If the parent will request such detention, the Operation Second Center will allow it if the parents will sign a sort of a “waiver.” Below is a reprint of what I wrote then.

Retired Judge Olegario R. Sarmiento Jr. (of the Regional Trial Court, Branch 24, Cebu City, assigned to a special family court.)

This is the title of a tele-novela in a television channel. I relate this title to the Second Chance Center, the Cebu City detention home for children in conflict with the law, of which I was the managing director before my retirement.

While the law does not favor institutionalized or structured rehabilitation, circumstances sometimes make it necessary and practicable. In cooperation with the Don Bosco Vocational School, run by a religious order, skills training course is offered at the center. A youthful offender whose sentence is suspended will undergo rehabilitation program. After completing the program, he will be recommended for final release by the supervising social worker and given the Certificate of Completion by the Don Bosco. By the way, the benefit of suspended sentence shall be availed of only once. Skeptics would say that youthful offenders would become repeat offenders and eventually catapult to the apex in the criminal gallery. But studies show that a big percentage of those given second chances have reformed.

The criminal justice system has drifted from classical to positivism. The gist is on the person not on the crime. It acknowledges the fact that sometimes a person is overwhelmed by estranged phenomenon which compels him to do wrong. The modern thinking is more on reformation than on retribution.

Sharing experiences on second chances, I recall that when I conducted an ocular inspection on a murder case, my public attorney called my attention to a boy vending banacue and toron. He was Michael whose sentence was suspended and which designed program was to render community services under the supervision of the GAD focal person. I found myself buying all his stuff to the delight of the court officers and staff.

I remember a social worker who asked for an Order of Final Release because the boy who was on home-based rehabilitation was called to work in a big food-chain company. Said order was readily issued. I really wished the NBI clearance will not reflect the crime committed, after all, the record is supposed to be confidential.

Finally, I can’t forget Mickey Magone who was a resident of the center who had reformed well and which reformation had command the respect of the other inmates, so much so, that he became a trainor himself. However, fate snuffed his life short as he died of an ailment. The Don Bosco established the aftercare services in Cotcot, Liloan, Cebu. The Magone Center is named after him. It is safe to say, that he did not die in vain.