Imprisoning Pag-asa: For the better?

The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act has been protecting Gat Jose Rizal’s “pag-asa ng bayan” from getting detained to a horror house full of criminal people. But nothing really lasts.

The freedom and happiness have to come to their end and the people of the republic are enraged about it. Do we need to stop this or just let this other law continue to imprison the children whose minds are still developing?

The Republic Act No. 10630 or An Act Strengthening the Juvenile System in the Philippines which keeps 15 as the minimum age of criminal responsibility but detains 12 year-old children in youth care facilities or Bahay Pag-asa. The place refers to a 24-hour child-caring institution established, funded and managed by local government units (LGUs) and licensed and/or accredited nongovernment organizations (NGOs) according to the law’s Section 4.

Kids are the subjects of news and the cause of social media rampage. Take the viral video of a bullying incident where two were involved, the bully and the bullied junior high school students in Ateneo de Manila University. In the video, the bully asked the victim to make a choice, whether it's dignidad or bugbog. The boy didn’t choose dignidad because he found it better to get assaulted than kissing the private part of the bully, his shoes, and thereafter lose his dignity.

Is the bully really at fault here? The children’s cognitive aspect is still at work and their minds easily get influenced by the people around them which include their families, friends and even what they see on the media nowadays. They just need the right influence in their social environment.

Though both beneficial and harmful, latest technology nowadays is very influential on the kids’ mentality. Smartphones, tablets, computers and so on are what they are into. A study by the Global System for Mobile Communications from 2015 states that 76 percent of Filipino children have the highest rate of using tablets. The most common age for a child to have a phone is 10 years old.

Likewise, because of the global computer network that connects almost every gadget or what we call the internet, the children can easily access all corners of the World Wide Web, including the sites that have prohibited content like gambling, piracy and graphic materials. I’ll emphasize the last one because in just two clicks away, the developing mind of the child will really get corrupted instead of becoming developed. It is one of the causes of juveniles engaging to crimes like rape, sexual molestation, prostitution and being a Peeping Tom.

How about the parents or guardians? Admonishing the kids on what they are doing and nurturing them on their growth must be their responsibility. Maybe, both parents are busy on earning money for their family’s everyday needs. Still, having time with their kids is very important. It builds up self-esteem and selfworth.

On some occasions, the life of a kid having a single parent – that is doing the job as the breadwinner. Or a kid with no parent at all is really tough because they serve as the support system of the kids. Simply put, having both a mother and a father is a blessing.

Being orphans or children whose parents are far away is unimaginable for surviving life without parental supervision. There will be no one to guide. Just living the flow of the universe – the things they see and hear – and the social circle they belong. Whether good or bad, their friends greatly influence their maturing minds. It would be better if the people around them have a decent mentality. Otherwise, corrupted thoughts are really foreseeable.

The president’s war against drugs is still at play and unsolved. Kids become tools for drug-related transactions advanced by convicts and addicts who have gone dark. Chances are, the kids deem such acts as acceptable and thereafter imitate those.

Recently, a group of minors from Manila, aging from four to 15, were caught in the drug den. Secured videos showed that they were used as pushers, runners and even cohorts in pot sessions. As of this writing, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) is filing charges against the parents of these children.

Speaking of guidance, the sugar-coated Bahay Pag-asa centers that will supposedly “transform” the apprehended kids still have “subhuman conditions” because of budget constraints. This was according to Tricia Oco, the executive director of the government’s Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council.

“The children there are just told to keep quiet the whole day and not do anything. So some of them do self-harm because they’re just very bored,” she added.

The law is still not ready to be implemented because Bahay Pag-asa centers are disproportionate to the demands. Human Rights Commissioner Leah Armamento said that out of 114 required number of centers, only 58 were built to date. If constructed, they fall on the substandard level compared to what the law has set. The facilities are substandard too.

Government preparedness was seen as mediocre when the K-12 and UniFAST was fully implemented. But until now, the programs are still on their feet. Just at the beginning, the people disagreed and started mass rallies but when the time passed, the society has slowly accepted.

Many of the netizens are furious because of the said law. “Corruption must be the very first target of the government and not the children”. “To lessen the hunger of these kids, poverty must also be their priority”. All these burning rants raged across almost all social media sites.

The Scriptures said in Proverbs 22: 6, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” It is either we, the older ones, who should take care of them or the law. Either way, training a child cannot be achieved in a snap of a finger. Patience for the people who will do this tiring but satisfying work is a requirement for this job takes time.

Now, these “pagasa” who were mentioned by our national hero, are they really in danger because of the law or is its implementation for the better?