TWO provinces in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) have yet to establish Bahay Pag–asa facilities for the rehabilitation of Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL).
Leo Quintilla, Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) – CAR regional director said Bahay Pag-asa centers are child-caring institutions built to offer rehabilitation and intervention to CICL.
Under the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act, these facilities are established and run by local government units.
“The task of DSWD is to provide technical assistance and at the same time monitoring. We are also looking at Bahay Pag-asa facilities for accreditation. Our goal is to have a one-star hotel accommodation for our CICL,” Quintilla explained.
At present, Apayao and Mountain Province are the remaining provinces in the region that are in the process of establishing their own facility.
The regional social welfare office admits one challenge their agency is facing is the status of designated social workers as most local government units (LGUs) in CAR have reached their professional standards level in having a position for social workers.
“One congressman here in the region proposed the mandatory creation of a social welfare position for LGU’s and this is one of the advocacies of the DSWD to ensure that there are licensed social workers in our municipalities. So far in the region, there are only two LGU’s that do not have a registered social worker,” Quintilla stated.