Juvenile justice bill now a law 
Prohibits jailing of children and exempts children below 15 from prosecution
After nine years of actively lobbying for the enactment of the juvenile justice bill, non-government organizations that banded together to form the Juvenile Justice Network including Preda Foundation finally succeeded in having the law passed by both chambers of Congress and signed by the President into law last Tuesday, May 16. The juvenile justice bill is now Republic Act 9344 otherwise known as Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 and will formally come into effect on May 22.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo certified last year the bill as urgent after the international condemnation brought about by the exposé by Chris Rogers broadcast over ITN and CNN in August 2005 that showed evidence of thousands of children imprisoned and abused in adult, overcrowded jails. Children interviewed in the report disclosed being physically and sexually abused by adult inmates, some are alleged terrorists and convicted sexual offenders. Chris Rogers and his team went back to the Philippines last February 2006 and saw that little, if any, has changed in the treatment of children in jail. The report also featured the work of Preda Foundation in rehabilitating these children and giving them a new lease at life.
The new law exempts children 15 years and below from criminal liability while youth offenders aged 15 to 18 years old can only be criminally charged if they acted out the crime with discernment. It also outlines the immediate turn over of children in conflict with the law to social workers upon apprehension instead of jailing them as was the practice. It also provides for the referral of children's cases to community-based rehabilitation programs instead of going to trial, and for juvenile delinquency prevention programs as well as rehabilitation and reintegration.
The Preda Foundation has rescued hundreds of children from jail, many of whom are released to their parents. Others are undergoing rehabilitation, values formation and vocational training and receiving educational and legal assistance in a therapeutic home operated by professional Preda staffers on the hillside of Olongapo City overlooking Subic Bay. There are no guards and no gates in the Center but few escapes.
Some of these children who have never been to school before successfully completed the last academic year. Many of the cases against them, or almost 90 percent, were dismissed which leaves one asking, 'How many children in jail are innocent but are suffering?
The successful rehabilitation program of Preda shows that diversionary programs for children work when they are treated with respect and recognition of their intrinsic dignity and inalienable human rights. (Francis B. Bermido Jr.)
