Philippine News Digest 69
February 17 - 27, 2004
Contents:
Global
inequality worsens
'Red tape'
hampers release of children from jails
Street children
murdered by death squad
Global inequality worsens
Corporate-led globalization has widened the gap between the world's rich
and poor as the richest 10 percent of the world population's income is now
117 times higher than the poorest 10 percent. This a huge jump from 1980
when the income of the richest 10 percent was about 79 times higher than
the poorest 10 percent. Inequalities within nations are also on the rise.
Fair trading is a means to combat this growing inequality as it supports
cooperatives and small business enterprises, mango and fruit farmers by
providing product design, business advice and production loans to village
producer groups. The PREDA Fair Trade project gives direct access to local
and overseas markets in cooperation with alternative fair trade
organizations and the World Shops.
'Red tape' hampers release of children from
jails
The Philippine Commission on Human Rights issued on December 17, 2003 a
resolution reiterating its recommendation to the President to provide
separate detention facilities for women and children and if it can not do
so due to budgetary constraints, to release children in conflict with the
law on recognizance to the custody of his parents or other suitable person
who shall be responsible for his appearance whenever required. Almost
three months hence, children continue to languish in jails with adult
prisoners and their release to their parents or a rehabilitation center is
hampered by bureaucratic constraints, particularly the lack of government
social workers who are mandated to make case studies of the children that
would be the basis of a court order releasing them. From November 2003 to
January 2004 alone, the PREDA Jail Rescue and Monitoring team has visited
20 jails and found 118 minors. Of these, 45 were already released through
the effort of the team.
Street children murdered by death squad
Street children in the Philippines are in great danger and some have been
killed by death squads. According to UNICEF, about 60,000 children in the
Philippines are living on the streets and 20,000 depend on prostitution to
survive. A street child named Anthone reported that being on the street is
a matter of life and death. “I am so afraid to be killed on the street,
in the last four years over 100 street children and adults have been
killed. We've heard of a lot of boys being murdered by the Davao Death
Squad,” Anthone says. There are accusations that the murders are
being committed by contractors linked to officials as part of Davao City's
clean up drive against crimes. (Source: Philippine Resource Network,
Children's Page)
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