Filipino children are getting more rights slowly but surely 
The Universe
(May 14, 2006)
It took nine years to get the Juvenile Justice Bill passed in the upper and lower houses of the Philippine congress, signed by the president last week.
Many children’s rights organisations in the Philippines and abroad campaigned and lobbied hard for this great historical step forward. We cannot forget the faces of young children behind bars as shown by ITN, CNN and ZDF television all over the world.
I was happy to help get the cameras into the jails. That is the only way that the world could see these secret cells and the cover up of the subhuman conditions. The situation has not changed yet but change is possible.
We worked with Jubilee Action in the UK and ITV presenter Chris Rogers to bring the story of children behind bars to the public in the two reports last August and February. They had a big impact and really motivated the congress to pass the new law that will prevent kids being jailed and establish restorative justice.
Children 15 years and younger cannot be charged and this new law is retroactive, so hopefully many kids will be released from prison. I went to the Pasig police station jail last week after the president signed the Bill in to law. There are four minors in that filthy overcrowded cell where the youths were jailed with hardened criminals. The Pasig family court is one of most compassionate and the judge, the best. She gives custody of minors to the Preda when the court social worker recommends it. She has helped save many young lives.
I had court order to get Juanito, a 13 year old boy out of the Pasig police station. Small, skinny hungry and in rags after two months of terror inside with hardened criminals, he is still traumatised. He became despondent and angry in the jail when his parents did not visit him. He felt rejected when they moved away and did not tell him where they were going. I got him out and brought him to Preda. The next day, with the help of the national TV station GMA 7 his mother was found and brought to Preda.
Juanito would not speak with her. He had suffered so much rejection, physical and verbal abuse at home that he ran away to the streets and was jailed for homelessness and stealing. When he has his cry therapy and gets out all that anger and bitterness he will be able to be reconciled. The mother admitted her failings and asked his forgiveness. Family therapy will reconcile them.
Since I wrote about the way child sex abusers pay off local officials and lawyers to have charges dropped, readers have asked what they can do to stop it in their communities. Filipinos form Australia and the UK write to ask us to help abused children in the Philippines that they know about.
Education is vital to eradicate it. Seminars teaching people to do the right thing and file a complaint are the way to change it. Local village officials get most of the money anyway and the parents a pittance. The child is ignored and her hurt and fears are cast aside.
The abuser is free to repeat it again. He believes he paid for her and she is his to abuse again. This why so much abuse goes on with impunity. We have to alert the people to their duty to protect children and report abuses. [End]
