Work with Children in Conflict with the Law:

A Continuing Challenge for the Salesian Philippine South Province

Distinguished guests, partners and cooperators, friends, ladies and gentlemen,

good afternoon.
Children in conflict with the law (CICL) are called by many names: criminal, thief,
murderer, rapist. When people look at them, if they look at all, all they see are the faces of
young criminals - fierce, vicious, and rough. When people speak of them, their voices are
often full of contempt, scorn and even condemnation. These children are given names that
speak only of their crimes and not of their humanity. Many wish to be rid of such useless,
hopeless creatures thinking that these children will always lead a life of crime throughout
their lives.
What many do not know, or do not care to know, is that the wicked faces are, sadly,
masksmasks that children have put on themselves to hide their pain, anger, and fear, or
masks that we, in our indifference and even revulsion, have actually put on them.
Because we mistake their masks for their faces, we forget who these children are. We
forget that they are children, who have much to learn, much to do, and much to hope for.
In believing the masks to be real, we undermine childrens capacity for growth and
change.
The Acts of the General Council of the Salesians of Don Bosco explicitly urged the
Salesians to go to where the young in need are and take up the work where they are
found. All over the world, across 5 continents and 129 countries, the Salesians
option for poorer youth of society is clear. The work that I present to you now is
simply a microcosm of this vast movement to serve young people, especially the
poor and disadvantaged.
In the Philippines, the Salesians of Don Bosco come in two ecclesiastical
Provinces the Philippine North, covering Metro Manila and Luzon, and Papau
New Guinea as their mission station; and, the Philippine South, where we are,
covering the Visayas and Mindanao and our mission station, Pakistan. There are
90 Salesians working full time in training centers, youth centers, schools,
parishes, homes for boys in difficulty circumstances, and a chaplaincy and skills
training program inside a youth prison.
This afternoon, I have the honor to highlight our prison work in the facility
called the Cebu City Operation Second Chance Center or simply Second Chance

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Center. This is one of the few in the country fully dedicated for children in
conflict with the law. Second Chance Center came into being in 2002, with the
aggressive efforts of the Cebu City Task Force on Street Children, where we are
members, in coordination with the city government, who saw the pressing need
to provide a separate facility for minor offenders in Cebu who, before 2002, were
confined together with the adult criminals in the city prison. Second Chance
Center is so named because the stakeholders aim to rehabilitate these young
offenders while inside the prison and, after they have served time, the
government erases their criminal record and releases them to society with a clean
name and, hopefully, a chance for a better life.
Here are some details about the young Filipino offender, 18 years old and below
categorized by the United Nations as children. More Filipino boys than girls
come in conflict with the law. This is because they are given greater freedom to
roam the streets, where they are more likely to use violence, drugs and alcohol
when joining gangs and succumbing to peer pressure. The usual age range of a
young Filipino offender is fourteen to seventeen (14-17) years old. One suggested
reason for older teenagers committing the most crimes lies in the struggle of
transitioning from childhood to adulthood, during which time issues concerning
independence, intimacy, identity, intellect, and integrity surface. Most young
Filipino offenders have also not graduated from primary or secondary levels of
education. Children usually stop schooling either because they have to earn
money to support the family or because of peer pressure. When children are
expected to earn money to support the basic needs of their families, their jobs
and income take priority over school attendance.
Young Filipino offenders are often from large families with five (5) to six (6)
children with very low income only about Eighty Nine Euros ( 89,00) per
month. Often the fathers are unemployed. The breakdown of families means
that poverty is even more grinding as single parents try to provide for their
children. One study reveals that thirty percent (30%) of young Filipino offenders
live alone with their mother. The necessity of the single parent having to work
and there being no one else to care for the children, means the child is more
likely to spend time in corrupting company. Even more shocking is the fact that
at least sixty percent (60%) of young offenders do not live with any parent at all
when arrested. Strained relationships with their families, sometimes brought on
by the presence of stepfathers or stepmothers, keep many children from
returning home. Additionally physical and sexual abuse at home can be the
cause of children taking to the streets where they find substitute families in
gangs. Gang membership often encourages criminal conduct and drug abuse.
Gangs encourage violent behavior, theft, robbery and more serious crimes. Drug

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abuse is also practiced in these gangs. The most commonly used drug by Filipino
street children is known as rugby, a local brand of industrial adhesive that
children sniff to get high and to make them forget about their empty stomachs.
Three types of offenses are observed to be the most commonly committed:
offenses against property, offenses related to drugs and sexual offenses.
Offenses against property have mobile phones as the most common targets.
Stealing is often a way of providing for themselves either by selling whatever
they snatch or stealing food. Young offenders also admitted that they steal to
finance their drug habits or they do it out of revenge against those who stole
from them or disrespected them previously.
Drug-related offenses are the second most common and these continue to
increase year by year. Many children turn to drugs to forget about their problems
or to induce fools courage to reduce their fear of committing other crimes.
They also buy, sell and use other more potentand expensive drugslike
marijuana or shabu (called the poor mans cocaine) which are available on the
black market.
Sex offenses come in as the third most common crime and these are likewise on
the rise. Usually, if a sex offender is a child, the victim is also a child. Physical
abuse, lack of discipline, and parental neglect lead to confused and wrong sexual
behavior. Substance abuse and pornography also contribute to children raping or
molesting others. Gang involvement may also encourage rape, either on dares
or as part of inter-gang wars. Some of the offenders who commit these crimes
have heart breaking circumstances of molestation and rape themselves.
Other offenses involve physical injury and even murder. Gang membership
enhances these crimes. Children are also more inclined to use violence under the
influence of drugs because they lose control of their emotions and reason. On
occasion physical violence is also used during robberies.
It is against these severe and painful realities that we, the Salesians of the
Philippine South Province, find ourselves challenged to work in Second Chance
Center. We work there as part of a multi-agency team that handles each childs
case. Ours is part and parcel of the case management services given to young
offenders - wide-ranging, child-appropriate psycho-social interventions (medical,
legal/para-legal, educational, and vocational) aimed at treatment and
rehabilitation and hopefully successful social reintegration.

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The Salesians skills training program in Second Chance Center is for young girls
and boys, 15 to 18 years old. Primarily, we offer training in Wood and Furniture
Technology. Here, they learn the rudiments of drafting, carpentry, and small
furniture design using hand tools and portable machines. As an allied course, we
teach them the basics of mechanical and electrical technology. Our training is
offered in modular form with project-based instructions. This is so because of the
trainees limited learning abilities and their transient nature - some discontinue
their training because of court hearings, sessions with social workers, or they are
released, and their slots are then replaced by others. Of course, we also have the
simpler skills training like candle making and making of simple fashion
accessories.
Since Second Chance Center opened in 2002, we have already provided 414
training places to young offenders.
Together with the skills training program is our chaplaincy for the entire facility.
The Salesians administer the sacraments and do spiritual guidance and
counseling to these children.
Our work in Second Chance Center is challenging at best. Often there is a
combination of pride and worry that the children learn fast but that they also try
and apply what they learn in a different ways. Like they would attempt to
short-circuit the electric bulb after learning the principles of electricity or they
would try and bend some metals, and some other challenging ones.
However, we also have stories that have elements of successes as they unfold.
Case #1 is the young man mentioned in our video earlier - Edcel who was
already a small-time drug lord at 15 years old who had loads of cash to meet his
familys needs and to sustain his heavy drug habit. At 17 he was caught, was in
detention for 2 years, and was convicted to 4-12 years in prison. His sentence was
shortened because of good behavior while in prison. During his stay in Second
Chance Center, he was one of our best trainees with the talent for drafting and
converting into beautiful woodwork his drawings. He also beautified the walls of
Second Chance Center with his painting. His years in Second Chance Center also
revealed his leadership potential. Last Nov 28, 2008, after being in jail for 6 years,
he was released under our custody and he does on-the-job training at our
Woodworking Shop earning the usual income. As Edcel would say, beyond the
skills, Don Bosco also gifted him with new hope. He shared that his love for
schooling has returned day by day since he started his on-the-job training with
us. Now, at 22 years old, he will re-enter first year level high school.

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Case #2 is Bong. At 17 he was detained in Second Chance Center for murder.

While in prison, Bong excelled in our woodworking training and was the only
one in recent years who was able to produce a model airplane and a model car
from the training materials. Ironically, these excellent woodwork were stolen
when Bong brought them home when he was released under the custody of his
mother and a social worker while his case continues to be tried in court. Bong is
back in night high school and does on-the-job training with us to help his
mother, a kind, hard working widow, feed his siblings and his 12 nephews and
nieces all living in their small home. By the end of March 2009, he will finish his
high school and hopes to be employed in Don Boscos woodworking shop so as
to generate income for himself and his family.
Of course, both Edcels and Bongs stories are still works in progress. Their cases
particularly lead us to reflect on our prison program especially on the light of the
passage of Republic Act 9344 otherwise known as the Juvenile Justice System and
Welfare Act of 2006. This law or RA 9344, as we call it, covers the different stages
involving children at risk and children in conflict with the law from prevention
to rehabilitation and reintegration.
R.A. 9344 rests on the principle of restorative justice which seeks to restore the
balance of a situation disturbed by crime or conflict rather than just simply
meting out punishment for an offense committed. It means taking responsibility
to make things right insofar as possible, both concretely and symbolically. As our
foreparents knew well, wrong creates obligations; taking responsibility for those
obligations is the beginning of genuine accountability. For many of us, it reflects
values with which we were raised. In restorative justice, offenders are
encouraged to understand the harm they have caused and to take responsibility
for it. Dialogue-direct or indirect - is encouraged and communities play
important roles. Restorative justice assumes that justice can and should promote
healing, both individual and societal.
I shall not bore you with the details of this law but simply highlight three things:
the law set the age of criminal responsibility to 15 years of age. This means that a
child fifteen years old and below cannot be criminally liable and should not be in
detention under any circumstances. Accountability of children 15 years and
below is pursued through a process called Intervention organized by the Social
Welfare Office of the government in partnership with the respective families and
communities of the CICL. Hence, Second Chance Center was required to release
its residents 15 years old and below to families and communities caught unaware
on how to carry on intervention measures in aid of their rehabilitation. Since

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mid-2006 up to this day, it has been documented that majority of the clients of
Second Chance Center are repeat offenders.
For child offenders above 15 up to 18 years old, accountability is pursued
through a process called Diversion again organized by Social Welfare Office in
partnership with the respective families and communities of the CICL, the police,
the prosecutor, and the court. Hence, our residents now in Second Chance Center
are those under the diversion program.
With RA 9344 still on its nascent stage, there is a lot to be desired in the proper
implementation and understanding of this law. Some of the weaknesses in the
system include the absence of comprehensive rehabilitation and aftercare
programs for CICL, the limited government funds to address the needs of CICL,
and the lack of effective monitoring systems, among others.
The challenge before the Salesians in the Philippine South Province then is to
resolutely and clearly venture in childrens justice work (or juvenile justice as it is
often called) in the field acknowledged by government as the area we can most
help: comprehensive aftercare. Look after these children when they are back to
their communities; undertake re-integrative services that prepare young
offenders for reentry into society by establishing the necessary collaborative
arrangements with the community to ensure that they do not re-offend.
Now and in the years to come, we aim at an effective aftercare program with a
seamless set of systems across formal and informal social control networks with
a continuum of community services to prevent the recurrence of antisocial
behavior and address the multiple needs of children in conflict with the law.
Indeed, for us, the call to further action is urgent. The demand to make concrete
the aftercare program is real. The children are waiting.
Thank you and good afternoon.

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References
Congress of the Philippines (2006). Republic Act 9344 Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of
2006. Metro Manila, Philippines.
Gies, Steve V. (2003). Aftercare Services. Juvenile Justice Bulletin. Washington DC, USA:
US Department of Justice, Office of the Justice Programs, Office of the Juvenile
Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Legg, Andrew and Legg, Hannah (2006). Seek Justice Volume 2: Claiming the Promise of
Freedom for Children in Conflict with the Law. International Justice Mission.
Maiese, Michelle (2003). Restorative Justice. Beyond Intractability Knowledge Base
Project. Boulder, Colorado, USA: University of Colorado.
Roy, Nikhil and Wong, Mabel (2004). Juvenile Justice: Modern Concepts of Working with
Children in Conflict with the Law. London, Great Britain: Save the Children-UK
Bosnia and Herzegovina Programme.
Save the Children-UK Philippine Programme (2004). Breaking Rules: Children in Conflict
with the Law and the Juvenile Justice Process; The Experience in the Philippines.
Quezon City, Philippines: Save the Children UK.
Trinidad, Arnie; Manzano, Anne Adelaine; and Puzon, Marco Paa (2006). Behind the
Mask: Experiences of Children in Conflict with the Law from rural and Non-Major
Urban Areas. Makati City, Philippines: Plan Philippines.
Zehr, Howard (2008). Restorative Justice: The Concept. US Office on Crime and Justice.

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