Filipino Child and Youth Offenders: In Incalculable Misery

Often, suspected child and youth offenders, upon being arrested, are handcuffed and beaten with fists or feet—or both, or with truncheons or gun butts. In the precincts there have been cases where suspected child and youth offenders were assaulted by adults who accuse them of offenses—often in the presence of policemen.

By Alexander Martin Remollino
Bulatlat.com  

Ryan (not his real name), 14, probably never thought it could happen to him—not even perhaps in his wildest dreams.

He was thrown into a prison cell packed with adult inmates. He had no access to legal, medical, and other social services.

Thus there was no one to fight for him when he was subjected to the prisoners’ “traditional welcome rites.” His adult cellmates took turns beating him up. Under threat of more beatings, he let one of his elder cellmates tattoo his wrist with the Sigue-Sigue Gang symbol.

All these happened without his police captors moving a finger to help him.

Violation of children’s rights

What happened to Ryan is a violation of children’s rights under the Child and Youth Welfare Code.

Under Art. 189 of the said law, “A child nine years of age or under at the time of the offense shall be exempt from criminal liability and shall be committed to the care of his or her father or mother, or nearest relative or family friend in the discretion of the court and subject to its supervision. The same shall be done for a child over nine years and under fifteen years of age at the time of the commission of the offense, unless he acted with discernment, in which case he shall be proceeded against in accordance with Article 192.” 

Under the Child and Youth Welfare Code, Ryan in the first place should not have been imprisoned. He should have been committed to the care of his parents or any other relative or acquaintance willing and able to tend to him, under the discretion of and subject to the supervision of the court.

Art. 190 of the same law obliges police personnel arresting suspected youthful offenders to assure them access to medical attention and psychological help: “A youthful offender held for physical and mental examination or trial or pending appeal, if unable to furnish bail, shall from the time of his arrest be committed to the care of the Department of Social Welfare or the local rehabilitation center or a detention home in the province or city which shall be responsible for his appearance in court whenever required: Provided, That in the absence of any such center or agency within a reasonable distance from the venue of the trial, the provincial, city and municipal jail shall provide quarters for youthful offenders separate from other detainees. The court may, in its discretion, upon recommendation of the Department of Social Welfare or other agency or agencies authorized by the Court, release a youthful offender on recognizance, to the custody of his parents or other suitable person who shall be responsible for his appearance whenever required.”

In Ryan’s case, this was not served.

Likewise, suspected youth offenders, like any other suspected criminal, are entitled to legal aid in accordance with the Constitution, specifically under Article III, Section 12, Paragraph 1: “Any person under investigation for the commission of an offense shall have the right to be informed of his right to remain silent and to have competent and independent counsel preferably of his own choice. If the person cannot afford the services of counsel, he must be provided with one. These rights cannot be waived except in writing and in the presence of counsel.”

One of many

But Ryan’s case is just one of a great number which shows the plight of children who come into conflict with the law in the Philippines. (The non-government organization Prisoners’ Rehabilitation Services Operations Foundation has taken up his case and is actively campaigning against police child detention.)  

Last April 11, the international human rights group Amnesty International released a report on the plight of suspected child and youth offenders in the Philippines. The report paints a very depressing picture.

The London-based Amnesty estimates the number of streetchildren in the Philippines at 200,000. These are usually children who have run away to escape difficult home situations such as those experienced by dysfunctional families—which are often exacerbated by poverty and abuse, whether physical or verbal or sexual. They are very likely to be arrested, since they may learn to steal in order to survive for the day, or use cheap mind-altering substances such as rugby to numb the stomach against the pangs of hunger.

Because of their lack of knowledge of the law combined with their psychological vulnerability, streetchildren are easy prey to policemen who find it very convenient to slap vagrancy charges on them.

One of the testimonies recorded by Amnesty say it very clearly. Sol, 16, comes from a broken family. “I was here in Cayagan de Oro because my mother and father were quarrelling—they separated. I started roaming the city—sleeping on the sidewalk. I was arrested on suspicion of robbery... Because of poverty I learned how to steal. This is the reason I am in jail. My hearing is still going on. I feel very tired here.”

Citing a study conducted on child offenders in the Philippines, Amnesty states that less than Ľ of them lived with both parents before being arrested, while only 2.2% reported being enrolled in school.

This betrays a lack of family and community support that makes them particularly vulnerable while in detention. Often, suspected child and youth offenders, upon being arrested, are handcuffed and beaten with fists or feet—or both, or with truncheons or gun butts. In the precincts there have been cases where suspected child and youth offenders were assaulted by adults who accuse them of offenses—often in the presence of policemen.

In detention they are usually assaulted physically or sexually—there have been rapes of both boys and girls by adult inmates. Many have reported being subjected to electric shocks or having their fingernails singed with lit cigarettes—no different from so many political detainees during the martial law era. Many of them have told of being made to sign documents they did not understand.

These all run counter to international and domestic laws on human rights and the rights of the child.

A 17-year-old boy who was arrested for theft narrated his experiences in the hands of his police captors to the streetchildren’s organization Balay sa Gugma, thus: “My father couldn't afford my schooling because it was too expensive… I learned how to steal. That's the time the police caught me. They placed me in a sack and I was beaten up by the police. They pointed their guns at me. Then the policeman said: "If you want to see your mother just pray…”

This echoes stories related by children who attended a national consultative workshop on streetchildren and the juvenile justice system held in August last year at the Skyline Riverbend Hotel and Convention Center in Marikina City. The workshop was organized by the University of the Philippines’ Center for Integrative and Development Studies-Psychosocial Trauma and Human Rights Program in coordination with the Consortium for Street Children, an NGO based in the United Kingdom.

One of them, a 14-year-old girl, said: “I can’t forget what happened to me. I was caught with rugby. They poured it all over me. I wished they didn’t do that.”

Another girl said she was hit with a logbook and a dustpan. Still another said she was coaxed by the policemen to allow them to touch her private parts in exchange for release.

A boy who was in the same workshop said that upon arrest for possession of rugby, he was immediately beaten up. Another boy, who was caught with rugby, said he was paraded around the marketplace, and said he felt very humiliated.

More than legal

The plight of suspected child and youth offenders in the Philippines uncovers the phenomenon of policemen ignorant of the very laws they are supposed to uphold, much less with the concept of human rights and children’s rights. It is clear that the Philippines’ police force is in dire need of education in these areas.

But more than being a legal problem, their plight reveals a culture heavily infused with elements of treatment of children and youth as inferior beings.

At the particular stage of life they are in, children and youth are especially vulnerable both physically and psychologically. Traumatic experiences in childhood and youth, needless to say, tend to handicap people in the pursuit of a life that could contribute positively to society. At the worst people who had to put up with a heavy dose of trauma in childhood and youth become real menaces to the community and even to society at large.

Children and youth should thus be treated with utmost care. This is possible only in a culture that does not look upon them as inferior beings. Bulatlat.com

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