DSWD Secretary Virginia N. Orogo stated, “We believe that the proposed measures seeking to lower the MACR should be studied further because lowering the MACR has never resulted in lower crime rates based on the Philippine experience, and other countries as well.”
She further explained that there is a need to distinguish between making children responsible for their actions and criminalizing them.
RA 9344 makes children responsible, without making them criminals, and holding them accountable in a non-punitive, welfare-based, and education-oriented measures. Children in conflict with the law (CICL) are provided with either appropriate intervention programs or undergo diversion program to ensure utmost protection of their rights and to prevent them from becoming recidivists.
“Moreover, lowering the MACR runs counter to available scientific knowledge about the cognitive, psychosocial and neurological development of children. It results in more children being detained and in substantially higher cost of public expenditure and graver offending, “ she continued.
The Secretary pointed out that “based on the available data, majority of CICL come from lower-income families where parents are unemployed. These measures are indeed anti-poor.”
During the executive meeting convened by the House Committee on Justice in January last year, DSWD maintained its position in favor of retaining the current MACR to 15 years old.
Programs for children in conflict with the law
Currently, the DSWD maintains 16 facilities for CICL, 15 are known as the Regional Rehabilitation Center for Youth including the MIMAROPA Youth Center and the National Training School for Boys for male residents, while Marillac Hills serves female residents.
These facilities provide 24-hour residential care treatment and rehabilitation of CICL with suspended sentence. Under the guidance of trained staff, residents are attended to under a structured therapeutic environment with the goal of reintegrating them into their families and communities as well as to help them become socially functioning individuals.
As of June 2018, there are 2,746 CICL and children at risk in DSWD-managed residential care facilities. Meanwhile, a total of 6,044 CICL have been served by the Philippine National Police (PNP) as of June 2017.
JJWA requires the establishment of Bahay Pag-Asa (BPA) Youth Care facilities with Intensive Juvenile Intervention and Support Center for children with pending cases before the court and for those above 12 but below 15 who commit serious crimes.
BPA is a youth care facility that provides center-based intervention and rehabilitation for CICL with pending cases before the court. BPA facilities implement the Intensive Juvenile Intervention and Support Center (IJISC), a special program or unit of any child-caring facility of the DSWD or licensed and accredited non-government organizations (NGOs) to address the needs of the CICL.
Based on the data of the Juvenile Justice Welfare Council (JJWC), an attached agency of DSWD, a total of 38 BPA facilities (35 LGUs, 3 NGOs) have been constructed from 2006 to 2016 to provide temporary care for CICL with pending cases before the court. # Source – www.dswd.gov.ph
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