Kids as SONA 
By Juan L. Mercado
Cebu Daily News, July 25, 2006
Ever heard of Megan's Law? It is the United States’ toughest sex-offender registry law. New Jersey adopted it after seven-year-old Megan Kanka was raped then murdered by a twice-convicted child molester who moved into the house across her home.
The law requires that citizens be warned when dangerous sex offenders are freed. United Kingdom’s parliament members visited New Jersey to see how Megan’s Law worked, British Broadcasting Corporation reported.
Indeed, the litmus test for any country is how it treats children. The BBC report underscores how crimes against children have spread worldwide.
The Philippines, for example, “is a source, transit and destination country for men, women and children trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation and forced labor,” the US State Department’s Trafficking In Persons Report 2005 points out.
The 2006 report observes “initial progress” here. The number of prosecutors was jacked up, but convictions were sparse. Republic Act 9208 clamps stiff penalties for trafficking. In May 22, the President signed the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.
Under Republic Act 9344, children 15 years and below are exempt from criminal liability. Those aged 15 to 18 years may be criminally charged only if it’s shown they had discernment when they ran afoul of the law.
Shoving arrested kids into the slammer, often jammed with hardened criminals, is now banned. They returned over to social workers. Cases are referred to rehabilitation programs, instead of trial courts.
These laws are fine, as they go. But it took all of nine years for church and non-governmental organizations to lobby for the enactment of the juvenile justice bill. As beneficiaries, children are voiceless, unable to protest and vulnerable.
Many officials, however, heed only those who protest loudest. “The squeaking wheel gets the grease,” the old axiom says. So, was it the Pinoy trait of hiya (shame) that did the trick?
In August 2005, CNN and ITN aired stark images of thousands of Filipino kids held in overcrowded jails for adults. Chris Rogers documented cases of children physically and sexually abused by adult inmates, some convicted sexual offenders.
The footage sparked a torrent of outraged protests here and abroad. In a follow-up telecast in February 2006, Rogers and his team revealed that children continued to be abused. Only then did the President certify, as urgent, the bill to Congress.
And what of young lives wrecked while politicians didn’t bother. What is a bill extorted by official deafness? “Can you hear the children crying, o my brothers/ ‘Ere sorrow come with the years,” asks Elizabeth Barret Browning.
To mean anything, laws must be implemented. Megan’s Law, Gannet News Service investigation shows, stands as one of the weakest in the nation “because of lax implementation.” And that is true too for our laws on abused kids. “Laws are like cobwebs,” Jonathan Swift says. “They catch small flies but let wasps and hornets break through.”
The Juvenile Justice Law has resulted in more children released. Preda Foundation, for example, got charges against 22 dismissed. Now, 16 are enrolled in formal school; the rest are receiving informal literacy education. If they were in Cebu City, they’d be targeted by vigilantes whom City Hall coddles.
But overall, implementation is slow. There’s money for a VAT-replenished pork barrel, but government has only a handful of poorly-staffed recovery and rehabilitation centers. Central Luzon has one jammed, poorly-managed government home for trafficked girls. Good Shepherd sisters and other religious groups pitch in.
“Hardly any are helped to bring charges against their traffickers,” the Preda Newsletter notes. The Department of Social Welfare sends most home. “They are soon trafficked again. There is no interest to raid sex clubs and rescue children by the police, labor or social welfare departments. ‘It's bad for tourism,’ officials say.”
The more insidious problem is the areglo (case fixing), says Father Shay Cullen, whose life has been devoted to protecting kids. All too often, local government officials and parents arrange for “compensation” by the sex molester. “Making an areglo is a common practice.” Local officials pocket most of the money and give parents a pittance.
“The parents don’t realize that they are, in reality, pimping their child. And so are the officials.” But the abuser goes free to molest more children.” Father Shay cites the case of eight-year-old Annie. Preda staff had rescued her. Then, “we found out that the areglo or pay off was made. The abuser came back and raped Annie again.”
“We have him in prison awaiting trial,” Father Shay says. “He faces life in prison if convicted… We endure, meanwhile, death threats from his powerful relatives and friends.”
Monday, the President delivered her predictably upbeat State of the Nation. And just as predictably, the opposition derided her assessment. Isn’t it another sterile exchange between those who turn deaf to the sighs of orphans and drink the tears of children?
But children – including the ravaged Annie, like Megan – are the truer SONA. They’re the valid yardstick to judge us all by. [End]
