METING out harsher punishments for parents of minors who commit crimes should be the last resort.
According to Daisy Lor, focal person for the Family and Women Sectors of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 7, the government and the private sector should first enhance programs and interventions geared towards responsible parenthood.
“Let’s be preventive instead of reactive. We should focus on empowerment and reaffirmation of paternal abilities,” she said in Cebuano.
Existing programs and services on good parenting were limited, she said.
“If we look at the parents today, not all will be able to nurture their children. If we put parents of minors who commit crimes behind bars, what will happen to the children? So before we come up with a law that metes out that punishment, we should look at why parents are unable to nurture their children and address that,” Lor said in Cebuano.
The Senate committee on justice and human rights led by Sen. Richard Gordon is pushing for stiffer penalties for parents of juveniles who violate the law.
In the joint committee report is the recommendation to raise the jail term for parents of children in conflict with the law from two to six months and a fine of not exceeding P500 to six months up to six years. Also, if the law is approved, any person, including parents, who use children to commit crimes can face a jail term of 12 to 20 years instead of the current six years or less. People who use children to commit crimes that are punishable by more than six years in prison will face 20 to 40 years in jail.
Lor believes that stiffer penalties for parents of erring children would only jeopardize families and the government.
“Before we pass that law, we must look at the consequences. What will happen to the child since they will become parentless? Who will take care of them?” she said in Cebuano. “The children will end up at the DSWD, but our center is already full. That’s even before this law is passed,” she said in Cebuano.
On the proposed Senate Bill 2198, which seeks to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility from the current 15 years old to 12, Lor said their central office still had no official stance.
However, she said they were strengthening provisions of Presidential Decree (PD) 603, or The Child and Youth Welfare Code.
“Ato sad nga gipahingusgan ang mga balaod sa PD 603 nga diin ang mga ginikanan dapat kabalo sila sa ilang mga responsibilities. Mao na nga nag mga Family Development Sessions sa atoang Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps) ato gyong gipangusgan ug part diha ang responsible parenthood. Ang foundation sa values sa mga bata dapat klaro na diha palang sa ilang mga kamot (Parents should know what their parental responsibilities are. That’s why the focus of family development sessions of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) is on responsible parenthood. The foundation of the children’s values should be made clear under their parents’ tutelage),” Lor said. (WENILYN SABALO, USJ-R INTERN)