Sad day for children’s rights

Letters . 

THE vast community of child rights advocates both in the Philippines and the world express shock, grief, and disappointment over the hurried deliberations of the House Justice Committee and eventual passage at the committee level of a bill lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) from the current 15 to 9 years old.

To say that child rights advocates are now crestfallen is an understatement. The finalization and passage of the bill, which has been pending at the committee level since 2016, is a stark mockery of the field of child development. Despite the numerous, repeated warnings from experts, social workers on the ground, and the international community; despite the voluminous scientific studies that point how the lowering the MACR will open the proverbial can of worms inimical to Filipino children, the Justice committee, headed by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Doy Leachon, still brazenly and unabashedly passed the bill on first reading.

We tried to remind members of the Justice committee how the same hallowed halls of Congress, in 2006, passed what will become Republic Act No. 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (JJWA), which essentially created a separate justice system for children hinged on the concept of restorative justice, following a global outcry over how children as young as 9 years old were treated almost the same way as adult criminals during that time. No less than the former president and now Speaker Gloria Arroyo – who ironically is one of the major driving force in the passage of the current bill in question – signed that law.

Yet our call, even if backed by scientific findings and hard data, fell on deaf ears. If and when Congress passes this bill before the 17th Congress adjourns, as avowed by Leachon and his colleagues, there will surely be grave repercussions for Filipino children. Children may not only be arrested on the spot, but also risk being detained in crowded adult detention centers, even if the bill points to separate child-caring institutions to take them in. Under the JJWA, each of the 81 provinces and 33 highly urbanized cities in the country should establish a Bahay Pag-Asa to provide intervention programs for children in conflict with the law (CICL). However, as of June 2018, only 55 Bahay Pag-Asa centers are operational.

The touted benefits of lowering the MACR are also bereft of evidence.The repercussions of charging and convicting children at a young age, even if there are certain token safeguards as regards custody, are beyond disconcerting. Studies show how CICL, without undergoing proper rehabilitation and reintegration, face a troubled future.

The passage of the bill hinged on the idea of rampant criminality associated with children. Yet, national police statistics show less than two percent of all crimes in the county are committed by children. Legislators also explain how the new bill will curb the extensive exploitation of children by drug syndicates for committing crimes and peddling drugs, yet the lowering the MACR will only compel these syndicates to tap younger children for their operations. In short, lowering the MACR is a myopic solution to criminality, a lame excuse to cover for the government’s inability to effectively go after the ringleaders of these syndicate groups.

The bill, in its current form, is highly incompatible with the principles and provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which the Philippines is party to, along with other pertinent international standards on juvenile justice. We have long pointed out to legislators how the full implementation of the JJWA should be the priority, and not totally revamping the law at the expense of children’s rights.

We remember how, just in recent months, significant progress has already been achieved after discussions with Justice committee members. Discussions on the MACR in recent months have already shifted to the strengthening of the implementation of the JJWA. Now, we beg to ask: what happened Congress? Why the sudden 180-degree turn?

As we express our frustration today, a sliver of hope remains. All is not lost, for now the bill will be transmitted to the plenary for further deliberations. Child rights advocates have not forgotten how this Congress has been instrumental in the passage of several important legislations for children, such as the most recent Special Protection of Children in Situations of Armed Conflict Act. At this juncture, however, we again warn our lawmakers that these significant strides are in danger of becoming immaterial, as the lowering of MACR can and will probably cancel out the benefits of the new pro-children laws we already passed.

As much as we fear how the plenary debate on this bill might be unduly hastened, we call on our legislators to redeem themselves from this major blunder and consider exerting rational thought and be receptive to overwhelming studies and positions against the lowering of MACR during the bill’s second reading. –Richard Dy,  Child Rights Network (CRN is the largest alliance of organizations and agencies pushing for children’s rights legislation in the Philippines. CRN has a membership of 46 organizations across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.)

Anti-Child Bill

DESPITE strong public clamor against the lowering of the minimum age of criminal responsibility, the House of Representatives has yet again passed a bill that aids the Duterte administration’s war against the poor. The House leadership deprived members of this Congress, including myself from interpellating on the measure. This bill further punishes poor and marginalized children for being victims of state neglect. The answer to the increasing rate of criminality is not to jail children but to address the roots of poverty.

Passing this bill criminalizing children who are victims of state neglect is an admission of the government’s failure to  to protect and advance children’s rights, especially those from the poor and marginalized sector of our society. By turning its back on the bills to address the lack of education and health facilities, lack of adequate housing and the low wages and salaries, this administration will only further subject poor families into greater poverty. We strongly condemn the passage of this anti-poor and anti-child bill on second reading. —Antonio Tinio, representative, ACT Teachers

Protect the Children

THE gravely unfounded justification to put children as young as nine behind bars projects not a fatherly figure of the administration but a vicious character of a villain who encourages syndicates to continuously use children for their crimes. 

The Congress dunces pathetically claims the measure to be showing the administration’s commitment to children’s rights despite evidently ill management for restorative justice for children-atisk and children-in-conflict-with-the-law. Moreover, it cannot be forgotten how this murderous regime claimed lives of innocent children in its bloody anti-drug operations.

With lack of substantial backing to such obscure measure to protect Filipino children, it speaks volume of how the Duterte administration treats them: lacking.

If the president and his supporters so claim that he is a father of this nation, he might as well be put in jail due to his appalling failure and neglect to protect his supposed children, this nation he has placed in grave danger by his terrible leadership.

The College Editors Guild of the Philippines call on the administration to resign from pursuing hearings on such proposed measure which is explicitly designed to be both anti-children and anti-poor. Let us not fail the children with abject propositions concerning their protection. –Jose Mari Callueng, president, College Editors’ Guild of the Philippines