A P10-million facility for children in conflict with the law (CICL) is set to rise in a Provincial Capitol-owned lot in Barangay Inayagan, City of Naga.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the two-story Bahay Pag-asa Center was held on Thursday, Feb. 21.
Marivic Garces, Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office chief, said the project was overdue and should have started construction in 2016.
“The Cebu Province is one of the prime provinces that is why it has to have a 24-hour child-rearing facility that will give temporary care for CICL,” she said.
Aside from the P10-million budget sourced from the Capitol, Garces said the Juvenile Justice Welfare Council has also pledged P10 million for the completion of the project’s second and third phases. The project’s first phase is expected to reach completion within 157 calendar days.
Garces said the project is timely since the House of Representatives approved on second reading the bill that seeks to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 12 years old.
“We're having this facility because we really have an incidence of CICL. Asa man diay nato sila ibutang?” she added.
Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale, who co-chairs the Provincial Women’s Commission and the Provincial Council for the Welfare of Children, said it was time the Capitol help CICLs between the ages of 15 and 18 years old.
In 2015, the Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation– Integrated Development Center, Inc. turned over a center for CICL in Consolacion to the Province.
The facility, called My Home, houses CICL between the ages of 10 to 15 years old.
“Unsa man ang atong buhaton sa below 18 to 15 (years old)? So this is it (Bahay Pag-asa). The facility in Consolacion has been very functional, but it only has a capacity of about 33. The thing is, kini, para ni sa laing age group. Mao kini ang katuparan sa among mga damgo nga ang mga bata, nakasala man o wala, kinahanglan atimanon gyud sa lalawigan sa Sugbo,” Magpale said. (RTF)