Suspected
Child Offenders Live Tortured Lives
27 minors were summarily killed
in Davao City from mid-1999 to Dec. 2002
A
study of suspected child offenders in Southern Mindanao determined that minors
are being subjected to the same methods of torture used on adults. Worse, the
laws are not working for these children.
BY
ROLANDO PINSOY
Bulatlat.com Mindanao Bureau
 Alia
brothers were among the dozens of children summarily executed in Davao City
DAVAO
CITY – A recent study on the treatment of child offenders in the Southern
Mindanao region has determined that these minors suffer all sort of abuses and
that existing laws for children do little, if at all, to protect them.
Children
interviewed for the study said they were made to go through various forms of
torture when they deny involvement in crimes. Oftentimes, the physical abuse
happens during the trip to the police station.
“Upon
arrest by the police, I was kicked. I had a back-fracture (sic).
Then I was sent for medical examination because I fainted,” a child
detainee told the researchers during a group discussion.
Common
forms of torture used by the police to force arrested persons to own up to
crimes were also used on children, like putting bullets between the fingers and
then pressing the hand. “My head was forced into a cellophane filled with
water,” one child said.
The
eight-month research study was commissioned by Save the Children-UK and was
conducted in the cities of Tagum and Davao, and the municipalities of Braulio
Duhali in Davao del Norte and Nabunturan
in Compostela Valley, all in Southern Mindanao. (The study defines
“children in conflict with the law” as those who are below 18 years old
“accused of committing or found to have committed, advertently or
inadvertently, an unlawful act or a criminal offense.”)
Detention
The
study also found out that first-time offenders who were rounded up mostly for
rugby use and curfew violations end up in detention cells for adults and their
cases are entered in the same police reports and blotters for adult offenders.
As a result, these cases usually found their way into media reports.
“Procedures
on protecting the privacy of children in conflict with the law are also violated
even at the law enforcers’ midst. Some children tell of being interviewed
while being covered by still and moving cameras without their consent,” the
study disclosed.
The
children also experience more abuses in pre-trial detentions. In most cases,
police stations have become holding centers for children both awaiting trial and
those with commitment orders issued by the court. “There is an absence of
processing centers that attend to the needs and rights of these children,”
said Mae Fe Templa, the study’s consultant.
In
a statement during the study’s launching late last month, Templa said,
“Basically, the problems of the children who come in conflict with the law
reflect the Philippines state’s non-conformity to the standards set by
international instruments, particularly the Beijing Rules and Riyadh Guidelines
on Prevention and Protection of Juveniles Deprived of Liberty.”
She
said “this is a reality where there is no law in the country that provides for
a comprehensive juvenile justice system. The traditional view and attitudes of
duty bearers on the rights of the child in these extremely difficult
circumstances aggravate the matter. Thus,
the effects range from children languishing in jails not being followed through
if not, summarily executed as in the case of Davao City, to undefined social
reintegration of (these children),” she added.
Summary
executions
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From
June 1999 to December 2002, 27 minors were summary killed in Davao City. Most of
the victims were involved in drugs, theft and gang wars.
Davao
City takes pride in pioneering the Children’s Welfare Code. This was passed
into an ordinance in 1994 with a set of implementing rules and regulations using
the Convention on the Rights of the Child as its framework. This code has been a
model for other cities nationwide.
But,
according to Templa, there have been reported cases of police officers, barangay
(village) officials and community volunteers ignoring the procedures outlined in
the code‘s implementing rules and regulations.
Aside
from the budgetary constraints that hinder the proper implementation of the code
-- which requires, for example, social workers to attend to these children --
the study also found that police officers themselves have violated the ordinance
because, under the code, they do not have the authority to arrest and detain
child offenders.
Children are supposed to be “rescued” and turned over to
their parents or guardians or the barangay captains or the local social welfare
officer for appropriate assistance.
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Human-rights advocates in a recent protest action in Davao City against the
summary executions
Photo by
Carlos Conde
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An
amendment to the children’s code recommends a “barangay diversion program
and juvenile delinquency program” that will prevent these children from being
dragged into formal court proceedings.
Various
studies have established that many of these minors were the so-called street
children when they were arrested. While a significant number still live with
their parents or relatives, they are usually out in the streets to eke out a
living or are involved in peer groups or gangs that are usually associated with
vice and illegal activities.
The
research points out that this trend is a result of “structural poverty” and
family breakdown. These play a major role in the increase in the number of
street children, child laborers and, to a certain extent, membership in gangs,
substance abuse, and petty crimes.
“They
are victim-survivors of the socio-economically rooted injuries of their families
and communities,” Templa said. Bulatlat.com
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