What progress is being made on behalf of "children in conflict with the law?"

    Poverty, absence of parental guidance and violence in the home produce children that roam the  streets and become involved in drug abuse, gang activities, and crime.

Here is an interesting article regarding responses by governmental and non-governmental organizations to the challenges involved in helping children in conflict with the law. While there is an increasing number of "Bahay Pag-asa" youth centers being opened, there are only two Lasallian Bahay Pag-asa centers - one associated with the University of Saint La Salle in Bacolod City and the other associated with De La Salle University, Dasmariñas. These two youth centers are unique in their connection with the De La Salle Brothers of the Philippines and the greater Lasallian educational mission. Our centers have particular emphases on education (both for academic advancement and for livelihood training), spiritual formation and development in the Catholic tradition, and an extended commitment of the staff to helping residents and former residents realize their full potential as citizens and as "sons of God." We believe that this holistic approach to rehabilitation helps heal the wounds of past abuse and wrongdoing and provides a positive direction based on the uplifting of the human spirit. 

Children in Conflict with the Law

Lasallian Teamwork Helps Bahay Pag-asa!

It's a wonderful thing to know that friends, far away, are working to help you. So we, at Bahay Pag-asa, want to send our thanks to "Sue, Patty, Sarah and Josh" at Saint Mary's College of California for helping to set up our library catalog. Our January volunteers (Margaret, Cody, Jaime, Shane and Frankie) will be bringing / shipping over 750 new books for our library. You can even see what they're bringing by checking our online catalog at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/BahayPag-Asa. Margaret Brown-Salazar (librarian at SMC) will then work with the student volunteers and our own residents to evaluate our existing library at BPYC and add what is still useful to our new catalog. As Lasallian education becomes more and more a global effort, its exciting to see this kind of trans-oceanic teamwork and forging of new partnerships (friendships, really). The boys at Pag-asa are just amazed that people are doing all of this to help them re-direct their lives and make hope happen here.

A Dangerous World for Children in Conflict with the Law

A common form of torture used against crime suspects, including minors.

(Photo courtesy of Amnesty International)

At Bahay Pag-asa, we hear many stories from the young people entrusted to our care.  One would be tempted not to believe some of these tales of mistreatment, but this excerpt from an Amnesty International Report ("Above the Law: Police Torture in the Philippines") confirms much of what we are told by our residents.  This is why we are now working with future police officers to provide education about the Juvenile Justice Reform Act and its amendment (RA 9344 and RA 10630) as well as giving them an experience of meeting "children in conflict with the law" in a setting that demonstrates the promise of rehabilitation and presents an image of CICLs not as criminals but as potential good and productive citizens.  And, at the same time, we have to recognize the trauma that has been experienced by some of our boys and exercise patience, gentleness and compassion while helping them along the road to wholeness and recognition of their worth, responsibilities and potential.  We also recognize that the problems presented here are not peculiar to the Philippines - the mistreatment of children in conflict with the law is widespread.

Many victims of torture and ill-treatment interviewed by Amnesty International in November 2013 were children who invariably came from underprivileged backgrounds.

The Philippines is a State party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Under the CRC, State parties are required to ensure protection and care necessary for the well-being of a child137 (defined as being below the age of 18138), including the provision of separate detention facilities for children.139 State parties are encouraged to establish a minimum age for criminal liability and, whenever appropriate and desirable, to create measures for dealing with children suspected of committing a crime without resorting to judicial proceedings.140 The Convention also prohibits torture and other ill-treatment of children.141

THE JUVENILE JUSTICE WELFARE ACT OF 2006 (JJWA) Section 21 of the JJWA provides for the following safeguards when detaining a child. It states that law enforcement officers must:  Inform the child in simple and understandable language of the reasons for being placed under custody and of his/her rights under the law;   Properly identify themselves;   Avoid using vulgar or profane words, and from sexually harassing or abusing, or making sexual advances on a child;  Avoid displaying or using any firearm, weapon, handcuffs or other instruments of force or restraint unless absolutely necessary;   Avoid violence or unnecessary force;   Immediately, but not later than eight hours after apprehension, turn over custody of the child to the Social Welfare and Development Office or other accredited NGOs and notify the child’s parents/guardians and the Public Attorney’s Office; and  Take the child to a medical and health officer for thorough physical and medical examination.

It further provides that:  Where detention is necessary, law enforcement officers must secure the child in quarters separate from adults

In the Philippines, the minimum age of criminal responsibility is 15 years and one day.142 Under the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act of 2006 (Republic Act No. 9344), children aged 15 years and younger are exempt from criminal liability and, if arrested, must shortly thereafter be released to their parents/guardian, or to a duly registered non-governmental or religious organization, a barangay official (elected village-community leader) or to a social worker.143 Children aged above 15 but below 18 are also exempt from criminal liability unless they can demonstrate “discernment” (the mental capacity to understand the difference between right and wrong and its consequences). In such cases, the child would be required to undertake a so-called “diversion programme” which, depending on the gravity of the criminal offence, may be developed and implemented by either the law enforcement officer, barangay official (elected village-community council), a local social worker or the court144 at any stage of the investigation or judicial proceeding.145 A “diversion programme” may include a written or oral reprimand or citation, fine, payment of the cost of proceedings, and/or institutional care and custody in the hands of NGOs providing services to children.146

In cases where diversion is not possible and the case goes to court, the JJWA provides for trained prosecutors to handle the case. Prosecutors are obliged to investigate allegations of torture or other ill-treatment of a child during arrest or detention.147 Cases specifically involving children are heard before especially designated family courts.148  However, many of these safeguards are not respected in practice. Amnesty International documented cases where children were not informed of the suspected offences for which they were arrested, were not immediately transferred to the care of a social worker, and were detained with adult detainees in crowded detention cells. They also suffered torture or other ill-treatment at the hands of the police.

Amnesty International researchers met several children under the custody of NGOs providing child care services.  In April 2013, Melvin (not his real name), aged 16, was arrested for stealing from a house in Metro Manila.149 A neighbour allegedly saw him and reported him to the police. Melvin initially went into hiding but eventually turned himself in.  Melvin told Amnesty International that while he was detained at the police station, a police officer took him out of his cell, beat him and punched him in the stomach, and kicked him as he was lying on the floor. He was told he was being punished for an earlier incident in which he was mistakenly implicated in an argument with another child detainee. Melvin said the police officer also hit him with a plastic baton while walking him towards the detention cell for adults. Once inside the cell, the officer ordered him to hang from the bars of the cell so that his feet could not touch the floor.  He was then returned to the children’s cell.

“My hands were not tied, but I was told to hold on to the bars and hang from them, just stay like that. He told me that if I fell off, I would have to do 1,000 push-ups... I held on to the bars like that for about 90 minutes. My arms were hurting.”  Melvin said the same police officer made him and his fellow child detainees do 1,000 push-ups several times as a punishment for minor misdemeanors such as his cell not being considered clean.  Although Melvin said that his parents complained to the police and the Department of Social Welfare and Development about the abuse he suffered, there was no follow-up.

Johnson (not his real name) was arrested for theft in 2012. He was 17 years old, but already on his fifth arrest on theft-related charges.150 He told Amnesty International that he and a companion sneaked into a house in Metro Manila at dawn and stole some valuables. The owner of the house chased and caught them.  Johnson said three police officers arrived and allowed bystanders to beat both of them, as well as beating the two themselves. “Many of them kicked me. I tried to hide my face. I sustained a swelling and suffered bruises. It took one week for the bruises to heal. The police also hit my jaw and I lost consciousness.”  Johnson was then taken to a police station where he said he was ordered to clean a toilet. While doing so, a police officer came and punched him on the stomach several times. Johnson described to Amnesty International what happened next: “They brought me inside the cell and forced me to hang from the bars for about 30 minutes. My hands were holding on to the bars while my feet were also hanging. It was difficult and tiring. The police threatened that if I fell, they would beat me up. I was so scared, I made sure I didn’t fall.”

Johnson told Amnesty International that a police officer entered the cell and hit him with a rifle. Another officer, whom the police called “chief,” placed a sword on his side, asking him if the blade would cut through his body. Then, using a pistol cartridge, the same officer hit Johnson’s fingers so hard that two of his fingers turned black with blood clots and then placed bullets between Johnson’s fingers and pressed them together. “It hurt a lot. It felt like my fingers would break. I thought I was going to die then. I had bruises on my chest, back, sides and thighs. The bruises lasted for a week and turned violet.” However, the nurse who examined him did not look at the bruises beneath his clothes after the police told her members of the public had beaten him.  “I didn’t think of complaining because no one would believe me,” Johnson said. “But what the police did to me was wrong. I cannot forget what happened to me. Each time I recall what happened, I get furious... I can still remember their faces.”

Julius (not his real name) was 16 when he was arrested in 2012 accused of stealing the earrings of a barangay captain (head of the elected village-community council).151 He told Amnesty International that when the police saw him, they said, “You’re here again, we should have killed you the first time.” But Julius insisted it was the first time he was ever arrested. Four police officers then placed three bullets in between his fingers and squeezed the fingers together fiercely. “It was very painful. There were marks on my fingers even after they took the bullets out,” he said. “They beat me with a truncheon on my soles. It was many times, I lost count.”  When asked if he filed a complaint, Julius said: “I wanted to file a complaint because I know what they were doing is wrong but I fear that they will kill me.” He added, “It’s better to be jailed at once than be interviewed by the police, because the police will kill you.”  Being forced to assume stressful bodily positions such as hanging from the bars in the cell for long periods is expressly recognized as a physical form of torture under the ATA, along with systematic beatings and being hit with a hard object. The ATA imposes the highest penalty of up to 40 years’ imprisonment on those convicted of torturing children.

Amnesty International also met a child suspect in the custody of a child-care institution in Zambales province. Jonathan (not his real name), a construction worker, was 17 when he was arrested in September 2012 in Metro Manila.152 Onlookers caught him and another friend robbing two women in a crowded street at night. Jonathan said his friend enticed him to commit the crime to raise money to buy drugs.  Jonathan told Amnesty International that several people beat them up, punched them and hit them with a scooter. One person stabbed his right thigh with a sharp object. The beatings only stopped when one tanod (community peace and security officer) took him and his friend to the police station.  Inside the police station, Jonathan said that a police officer poked him with a sharpened pencil in the chest. He said that four policemen punched him in the stomach, on the sides and in the ribs, despite having been informed by the tanod that Jonathan was only 17 and therefore a child. They continued hitting him as they brought Jonathan and his friend to a jail in Metro Manila. Jonathan told Amnesty International that police officers punched them in different parts of their bodies and dared them to grab their guns so the police could shoot them. Jonathan said he heard one of the policemen say, “Let’s kill them”. He thinks that the police did not kill them only because it would have been witnessed by a tanod.  At the jail later that night, a man in white t-shirt and jeans wearing a gun, who seemed to be a person of official authority, grabbed Jonathan and his companion by the backs of their necks and banged their heads together. Then Jonathan and his friend were questioned separately. Jonathan was forced to “confess” that he had stabbed one of the women they robbed.

The police then took Jonathan and his friend to a hospital where the woman was being treated. A man, whom Jonathan assumed to be the father of the victim, punched him in front of the police officer. The police then took them to another hospital for medical examination. On the way, the police officers continued hitting them. At the hospital, Jonathan said they could not say anything to the doctor because the three policemen who beat them up were in the same room.  After the medical examination, the police took them to another police station where three policemen placed bullets in between their fingers and forcibly squeezed their hands. Then, apparently satisfied with the immediate punishment, the police officers made them promise never to repeat the robbery, and took them to separate rooms to be interviewed.  Jonathan said that after that night, both he and his friend cried in pain. He saw that his companion had bruises covering his body and his eyes were red. “I really can’t forget the beatings we suffered at the hands of the policemen... I feel like crying whenever I remember that. I used to want to be a policeman when I grow up, but seeing how they operate, I have now given up on that dream. I can’t forget what they did to me. I will never forget.”

Jonathan and his companions were taken to the prosecutor for questioning on the third day following their arrest. “The prosecutor asked us to tell if the police did anything to us. But I could not say anything as I was really scared of them. The policemen were standing beside me. Every time the prosecutor asked, I would look at the policemen on the side, who would stare at us, and then I would keep quiet.”  Jonathan added that he was also taken to the Public Attorney’s Office and the Department of Social Welfare and Development but was advised to confess to the crime so he could go home sooner.  “I really wanted to complain, but I could not recall the faces of those who beat us. I looked for them at the hearings, but have not seen them there,” he said. 

Are We Needed?

A Saturday morning class at Bahay Pag-asa

Some people have asked us this question.  If, as a result of laws passed in the Philippines, municipalities and regions are required to set up centers for youth in conflict with the law, then what is the need for non-governmental organization (NGOs) to do the same.  Can this effort be left in the hand of governmental agencies.

The answer to that question became painfully obvious recently when the conditions at one government-run center for street kids and abandoned or abused children were exposed by visitors from an NGO.  The story made headlines here:

Nathaniel R. Melican
Philippine Daily Inquirer
5:45 AM | Sunday, November 16th, 2014

MANILA, Philippines—Officials running a local government facility in Manila that is supposed to shelter and nurture street children have come under fire for acts of negligence and maltreatment so severe that shocked observers likened the place to a “concentration camp.”

To stress just how bad things are at the Manila Reception and Action Center (RAC), welfare advocates wrote City Hall for the third time last month. This time, they enclosed a photo of “Frederico,” one of the wards, showing the boy lying on the pavement, reduced to skin and bones.

Frederico’s appalling condition showed the kind of care—or the lack of it—that children like him had been receiving at the RAC, according to Catherine Scerri, deputy director of Bahay Tuluyan, a nongovernment organization promoting children’s rights.

It was Scerri who took Frederico’s photo on Oct. 12 during a visit to the center, which is located on Villegas Street in Ermita, a five-minute walk from City Hall.

“We don’t know much about his identity,” Scerri said of the boy, who had since been transferred to another youth center with Bahay Tuluyan’s help. When examined up close, the emaciated child sported rashes and a “black eye,” she recalled.

Based on the scant details she had gathered, Frederico was found abandoned in Paco and brought to the center on March 8. After seven months, for reasons still unclear, the RAC staff members have yet to determine his real name, age and address. They cited the lack of funds for medical treatment to explain the boy’s pitiful state, she said.

“It can definitely be described as a prison. (My colleagues) have compared it to a concentration camp. It is supposed to rehabilitate street children but it is not a child-friendly place,” Scerri told the Inquirer in an interview on Thursday.

Operated by the Manila Social Welfare Department (MSWD), the RAC was established about 30 years ago as a place where the police or village watchmen can bring child vagrants and beggars. It occupies a cluster of buildings built in the 1930s.

In February, a month before Frederico arrived at the RAC, the Manila-based NGO sent the first of a series of letters to Mayor Joseph Estrada and MSWD chief Shiela Marie Lacuna-Pangan, raising its concerns.

The letter, signed by BT Executive Director Lily Flordelis, called on the officials to improve the conditions at the RAC—or just close the place down if they could not do it.

Aside from poor health and nutrition, violence—bred by overcrowding and strained resources—has been part of the children’s daily diet of misery. “Many children we have spoken to complained that they were physically abused, assaulted and even tortured by the RAC staff,” Flordelis said.

These incidents largely went unreported to higher authorities, she said. If ever documented in cases where the victim had to undergo a medical examination, the resulting reports were “very superficial” because the examination was done “in the presence of the same officials who had beaten up the child, thereby inhibiting (full) disclosure” of the injuries.

In the interview, Scerri also noted that “bullying” was apparently being tolerated at the center.

During an earlier visit, she said, she caught “two boys carrying a younger boy by his wrists and ankles. I was alarmed so I intervened after the workers there didn’t do anything. When I talked to the young boy, who was about 10 years old, he was terrified because he almost got beaten up.”

Bahay Tuluyan also noted how RAC personnel had failed to notify the children’s parents and guardians weeks or months after the minors arrived there.

“The center officials said the place can accommodate about 100 people, but on any given day there can be as many 400 there. Recently I saw about 160 boys sharing a room just about five-by-six meters wide. They have nothing in there but a bucket—for those who need to pee,” Scerri said.

Sought for comment, Estrada said he had “reprimanded the head of the MSWD (Pangan) and the RAC for this.”

“They said they did not mean to neglect the child (Frederico) and that this is an isolated case. I have ordered the MSWD to improve the treatment of children there. This won’t be repeated. If it happens again, heads will roll,” the mayor, adding that he found the boy’s photo disturbing.

He vowed to pour in more funds for the center. “Hopefully next year we can improve RAC and its facilities; we expect (the city government) to be debt-free by then. We don’t see a need to shut down RAC’s operations. The services there will improve.”

Pangan and RAC officials, led by acting chief Gloria Antonio, did not respond to Inquirer requests for an interview.

Scerri said Estrada made the same pledge when she and other Bahay Tuluyan officers finally had a meeting with him on Nov. 6 and 10. “He promised us that there will be more funding and even new buildings (for the center) in 2015.”

“We have been campaigning for improvements since 2008 but we’ve seen very little (progress). So we are hoping the government will show sincerity. We want to see a clear action plan.” A third meeting with Estrada is set on Nov. 26.

As to Frederico, she said, “we received news that he’s already doing fine and has started to put on weight. But there are still many things needed to be done for him. We still don’t have a complete diagnosis of his condition.”

“His case may be considered ‘isolated,’ but we have strongly established that the problems at the RAC are systemic. The children may actually be safer and more able to fend for themselves out in the streets than inside the center, where they only end up traumatized.”

We have learned that bureaucracy-mired organizations are often ill-equipped to handle the emergency needs of children in danger from poverty, starvation, illness and the violence experienced by children who find themselves in convict with the law.  Centers for these children must be able to act quickly and set realistic limits to the numbers of residents they can care for.  If government-run centers simply admit every child brought to their door and there is no corresponding increase in staff, nutrition, medical care, and other resources, then shelters for the street kids will begin to look like "concentration camps" and centers for children in conflict with the law will begin to look like jails.

At Bahay Pag-asa Bacolod, we are careful in our admissions programs because we want to maintain a safe and family-like atmosphere for the children and youth in our care.  As a private, Lasallian, non-profit organization, we operate as a fulfillment of our mission to provide a "human and Christian education for the young, especially the poor" rather than simply fulfilling a government mandate.  We are able to direct donations quickly and directly toward helping feed, house, educate and care for the children in our center.  Our experience is that the children entrusted to us grow up healthy and advance in their education.  They master academic skills and they take courses that enable them to seek employment for skilled workers.  They experience the Gospel as "action" more than "preaching" as we work every day to model compassion, mercy, forgiveness, and love.  We are not the solution to the entire problem but we are part of the solution - and a very important part because we are developing a program that can serve as a model for future centers for children in conflict with the law.
We know that we are needed and we hope to work with governmental agencies to help find the best programs and placements for the children who find themselves in danger or without hope.  We are needed.

A Challenge from Pope Francis

Francis X. Rocca   Catholic News Service   |  Oct. 23, 2014The Francis Chronicles

Pope Francis called for abolition of the death penalty as well as life imprisonment, and denounced what he called a "penal populism" that promises to solve society's problems by punishing crime instead of pursuing social justice.

"It is impossible to imagine that states today cannot make use of another means than capital punishment to defend peoples' lives from an unjust aggressor," the pope said Thursday in a meeting with representatives of the International Association of Penal Law.

"All Christians and people of good will are thus called today to struggle not only for abolition of the death penalty, whether it be legal or illegal and in all its forms, but also to improve prison conditions, out of respect for the human dignity of persons deprived of their liberty. And this, I connect with life imprisonment," he said. "Life imprisonment is a hidden death penalty."

The pope noted that the Vatican recently eliminated the death penalty from its own penal code.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, cited by Pope Francis in his talk, "the traditional teaching of the church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor," but modern advances in protecting society from dangerous criminals mean that "cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity are very rare, if not practically nonexistent."

The pope said that, although a number of countries have formally abolished capital punishment, "the death penalty, illegally and to a varying extent, is applied all over the planet," because "extrajudicial executions" are often disguised as "clashes with offenders or presented as the undesired consequences of the reasonable, necessary and proportionate use of force to apply the law."

The pope denounced the detention of prisoners without trial, who he said account for more than 50 percent of all incarcerated people in some countries. He said maximum security prisons can be a form of torture, since their "principal characteristic is none other than external isolation," which can lead to "psychic and physical sufferings such as paranoia, anxiety, depression and weight loss and significantly increase the chance of suicide."

He also rebuked unspecified governments involved in kidnapping people for "illegal transportation to detention centers in which torture is practiced."

The pope said criminal penalties should not apply to children, and should be waived or limited for the elderly, who "on the basis of their very errors can offer lessons to the rest of society. We don't learn only from the virtues of saints but also from the failings and errors of sinners."

Pope Francis said contemporary societies overuse criminal punishment, partially out of a primitive tendency to offer up "sacrificial victims, accused of the disgraces that strike the community."

The pope said some politicians and members of the media promote "violence and revenge, public and private, not only against those responsible for crimes, but also against those under suspicion, justified or not."

He denounced a growing tendency to think that the "most varied social problems can be resolved through public punishment ... that by means of that punishment we can obtain benefits that would require the implementation of another type of social policy, economic policy and policy of social inclusion."

Happy Halloween from Bahay Pag-asa!

Bahay Pag-asa residents had their first ever Halloween Party yesterday complete with a costume contest, scary movies, a lesson on the history of Halloween, and even home-made caramel apples!
Since we did not have pumpkins available the boys carved jack-o-lanterns out of green papayas and banana tree bark.  Somehow it all worked out.

It was a fitting celebration for the boys since they had just (one week before) won first place in performance (drama and dance) at the Symposium of Child's Rights held at the Bacolod Girls' Home.  They were asked to repeat their performance at a second workshop held at Bacolod's New Government Center.  And they are being asked to bring their talents again to the Regional Center at the beginning of December.

We expect two or three new residents this week and we look forward to the graduation of two of our residents from Therapeutic Massage Program at the University of Saint La Salle.

Bulletin Board Makeover!

Our educational makeover continued this last weekend with a multi-pronged bulletin board makeover courtesy of the education students from the University of Saint La Salle (USLS).  Morning and afternoon groups quickly transformed our faded and outdated boards into colorful, engaging and informative displays.

Brothers Mark, Cliff (seen above) and Edgar joined their collegiate classmates in implementing these whirlwind improvements.  

While all of this was going on Br. Mark and volunteer students involved the residents with activities that included discussion, music, signing (for the hearing impaired) and dance!  This is what Lasallian collaboration looks like!

Educational Makeover at BPYC!

On Saturday, two big groups of education students from the University of Saint La Salle arrived at Bahay Pag-asa to do an "educational makeover" - fixing up our computer room, math/science classroom, and music room. And after all that work, they still had energy to dance! The staff and residents send a big "Salamat god!" to all our friends who helped make this day possible. We look forward to more events like this - building Lasallian community for the purpose of making education accessible to all!

Agricultural Science at Bahay Pag-asa

Gardening turns into agricultural science at Bahay Pag-asa. BPYC residents measure off square meter plots in their ICA (Institute of Culinary Arts) garden and measure the soil pH. This data will help us determine what to plant and where. We have already located certain areas of the garden that have more acidic soil. We're starting with about 500 plots and later expanding to 1000. Mr. Dan Garcia of the USLS Ecopark is directing our efforts to implement a Natural Farming System using organic and environmentally sound methods of weed and pest control. This is one way in which Bahay Pag-asa incorporates academics (in this case, science and math) into its livelihood skills programs.

An Educational Field Trip to USLS for Bahay Pag-asa Boys

The engineering students at the University of Saint La Salle (USLS) invited the Bahay Pag-asa residents to visit their campus during University Week.  Classrooms were set up as stages, museums, zoos, and laboratories for young visitors to explore the worlds of science and culture.

Activities included a math contest (see photos above), dramatic presentations about mythology in the Philippines, interactive science displays, a museum of human anatomy (see below), and a zoo full of exotic animals including a young salt-water crocodile.

The boys really enjoyed the trip and, judging by their questions afterwards, they learned a great deal. This year we hope to have more opportunities like this so that learning for these kids can be as interesting as it can be.

Future Police Officers Visit Bahay Pag-asa

A big batch of criminology students from the Central Philippines State University at Kabankalan visited Bahay Pag-asa to learn more about programs for children in conflict with the law.  They were an attentive, polite and friendly bunch of future law enforcement officers and we were delighted to have them visit us.  The residents toured them around the center and told them a little about their experiences of being at BPYC.  Programs like this are very important because these young people will be the first contact that many CICLs (children in conflict with the law) have with the law.  If these criminology students see CICLs not so much as criminals but as future responsible citizens, then they will work with us to provide the opportunities to steer kids away from crime and into safe, happy and productive lives.

Cutting edge work - very low tech!

Here's the challenge - a field full of waist-high weeds that must become a vegetable garden to produce fresh and nutritious food for the table at Bahay Pag-asa.  Resources available:  shovels, hoes, wheelbarrows, bolos, and the dedication of staff and residents.  We have three days to get this project largely underway.

First, using a hoe ("sadol"), shovel, or your bare hands, you dig out or pull up the weeds.  This is more painful than you might think - a plant called "shy-shy" (because of its tendency to fold its leaves when touched) has vicious thorns and is mixed in with the other weeds.

Then you pack the weeds in old rice sacks so they can be transported across the property to holes prepared for their disposal.

Then you carry the weeds to their final resting place.  This bag is very heavy, but our tough resident wants us to see that he can manage this with no hands.

If all the rice bags are being used, you use a wheelbarrow.

As a last resort, or if you are an older American Brother not likely able to carry an entire rice-bag full of weeds and soil, that you can try this weed transporting method.

Finally, when the weeds are gone you begin to prepare the rows for the crops.  This row will have to be checked over the next week to continue to break up the soil and to remove any remaining weeds or weed seedlings.  Our next photos will show you the delivery of seeds and the planting of the restored garden.

Traffic Report

How's the traffic in the Philippines?  Well, like anywhere else, it depends on where you are and the time of day.  Here's a photographic report.

First, here's traffic in Manila...

Next, here's traffic in Bacolod on the island of Negros...

Now, here's traffic in the town of Granada (1 km from Bahay Pag-asa)...

And finally, here's rush hour at Bahay Pag-asa Youth Center...

So, as you can see, there are lots of options here...pick your traffic jam.

When you can't afford music lessons...

Music seems to reside in the heart of every kid here at Bahay Pag-asa Youth Center, but with budget limitations and the rising costs of the basic needs of the residents, education for the arts can easily find itself cut out.  Of course, we would prefer to have regular music lessons for the boys, but if that isn't possible, what's the next best thing?  Well, this electronic keyboard (just donated by Club Pag-asa at Cathedral High School, Los Angeles) is one way to keep music education going here.  In addition to its many functions, this keyboard has lighted keys which can teach kids how to play certain songs.  This young resident has a good ear for music and can sound out melodies.  Using this new keyboard, he is able to learn how to add chords and produce a full sound that we can use in the chapel for Mass and prayer services.  Next, he will teach the others.

Another young man has discovered that with downloaded Youtube videos and the tutorials in Garage Band, he can improve his guitar-playing.  (This computer belongs to Br. Dan, but this resident gets to make use of it each day.  He is currently working on both English and Tagalog versions of the song "Dance With My Father."  Thanks to these technologies, we can continue to offer music lessons (albeit it limited in scope) even when we can't afford the teachers we would like to have.

The Classroom as Sacred Ground

Over the course of this last busy week, I have been waking up every morning to find my chalkboard covered in facts about stars, planets, and the universe.  I'm not really used to this.  Usually, if I want science notes on the board I have to put them there myself.  It turns out that this is all the work of one boy here - our newest resident.  He is a former street kid and seems to have had little formal schooling.  But what he does have is a big interest in learning.  Two nights ago, the clouds gave way for a while and we set up the telescope.  Mars and Saturn were out, but a thundercloud blocked our view too quickly.  So we looked at some big bright stars - Vega, Antares and Arcturus.  This boy was there - eager to get his first real look through a telescope.  Yesterday, he approached me and said, "I read in a book that Jupiter rotates once every 10 hours.  Is that true?"  I realized that I wasn't sure...it seemed too fast.  But, he was right and he added this to his board facts early the next morning, before I was even awake.

As a teacher I'm used to forcing the issue.  Too often I give up on inspiring and resort to some sort of thinly-veiled threat of failure.  But when a boy who spent a very long time sleeping on sidewalks in the marketplace greets me every morning with his desire to learn all he can, I have to recognize that I may have stumbled upon sacred ground.  A burning bush would be less surprising than this manifestation of hope and wonder from a kid who should be concerned only with food and shelter.  Despite my best efforts, it's hard to be cynical here.

I wish you could see it...

A young boy walks away from his home early one morning, because life has become unbearable for him. He walks until midnight, finding himself in another city. There he lives on the street, sleeping in the market, avoiding hostile groups of teens and malicious adults. He becomes painfully thin, finding just enough to eat every few days to keep himself alive. He suffers from respiratory ailments and skin diseases. Eventually, because of petty theft or violation of curfew laws, he finds himself in a police lockup. A social worker finds him and looks for a place when he can find a temporary home. That is often when we, at Bahay Pag-asa, first meet a "child in conflict with the law." Many are quite surprised when they first come to Bahay Pag-asa because there are no "cells" like they experienced at the police lock-up or jail. They find that they now have three meals a day, classes, recreation, livelihood training and even the medical care that they may never have received previously. But most importantly, they find a family and a sense of belonging. I wish that you could see it...it's the good news of the Gospel in its most unmistakable form.

Police Formation and Children in Conflict with the Law

A juvenile arrested for an alleged offense against the law will usually spend hours to days at a police station before being returned to the family, or placed in residential care pending court action.  Some juveniles end up spending extended periods of time in police lockups, though the law directs otherwise.  The time spent in custody of the police can be humane or brutal depending on the officers, their understanding of the situations of CICLs (children in conflict with the law), and the protections guaranteed to CICLs by the law.  Among the residents of the two Lasallian Bahay Pag-asa Youth Centers are any number of boys who experienced abuse and even what amounts to torture at police stations as they were interrogated about the alleged offenses.  Other residents report humane treatment at police stations where officers have been schooled in the requirements of the Juvenile Justice Reform Act (RA 9344), so it is clear that police formation must be an integral part of the Bahay Pag-asa programs.

RA 9344 is quite explicit regarding the manner in which a juvenile offender must be treated while in the custody of the police:

TITLE V
JUVENILE JUSTICE AND WELFARE SYSTEM

CHAPTER I
INITIAL CONTACT WITH THE CHILD

Sec. 21. Procedure for Taking the Child into Custody. - From the moment a child is taken into custody, the law enforcement officer shall:

(a) Explain to the child in simple language and in a dialect that he/she can understand why he/she is being placed under custody and the offense that he/she allegedly committed;

(b) Inform the child of the reason for such custody and advise the child of his/her constitutional rights in a language or dialect understood by him/her;

(e) Properly identify himself/herself and present proper identification to the child;

(d) Refrain from using vulgar or profane words and from sexually harassing or abusing, or making sexual advances on the child in conflict with the law;

(e) Avoid displaying or using any firearm, weapon, handcuffs or other instruments of force or restraint, unless absolutely necessary and only after all other methods of control have been exhausted and have failed;

(f) Refrain from subjecting the child in conflict with the law to greater restraint than is necessary for his/her apprehension;

(g) Avoid violence or unnecessary force;

(h) Determine the age of the child pursuant to Section 7 of this Act;

(i) Immediately but not later than eight (8) hours after apprehension, turn over custody of the child to the Social Welfare and Development Office or other accredited NGOs, and notify the child's apprehension. The social welfare and development officer shall explain to the child and the child's parents/guardians the consequences of the child's act with a view towards counseling and rehabilitation, diversion from the criminal justice system, and reparation, if appropriate;

(j) Take the child immediately to the proper medical and health officer for a thorough physical and mental examination. The examination results shall be kept confidential unless otherwise ordered by the Family Court. Whenever the medical treatment is required, steps shall be immediately undertaken to provide the same;

(k) Ensure that should detention of the child in conflict with the law be necessary, the child shall be secured in quarters separate from that of the opposite sex and adult offenders;

(l) Record the following in the initial investigation:

1. Whether handcuffs or other instruments of restraint were used, and if so, the reason for such;

2. That the parents or guardian of a child, the DSWD, and the PA0 have been informed of the apprehension and the details thereof; and

3. The exhaustion of measures to determine the age of a child and the precise details of the physical and medical examination or the failure to submit a child to such examination; and

(m) Ensure that all statements signed by the child during investigation shall be witnessed by the child's parents or guardian, social worker, or legal counsel in attendance who shall affix his/her signature to the said statement.

A child in conflict with the law shall only be searched by a law enforcement officer of the same gender and shall not be locked up in a detention cell.

Sec. 22. Duties During Initial Investigation. - The law enforcement officer shall, in his/her investigation, determine where the case involving the child in conflict with the law should be referred.

The taking of the statement of the child shall be conducted in the presence of the following: (1) child's counsel of choice or in the absence thereof, a lawyer from the Public Attorney's Office; (2) the child's parents, guardian, or nearest relative, as the case may be; and (3) the local social welfare and development officer. In the absence of the child's parents, guardian, or nearest relative, and the local social welfare and development officer, the investigation shall be conducted in the presence of a representative of an NGO, religious group, or member of the BCPC.

After the initial investigation, the local social worker conducting the same may do either of the following:

(a) Proceed in accordance with Section 20 if the child is fifteen (15) years or below or above fifteen (15) but below eighteen (18) years old, who acted without discernment; and

(b) If the child is above fifteen (15) years old but below eighteen (18) and who acted with discernment, proceed to diversion under the following chapter.

Part of the mission of Bahay Pag-asa Dasmariñas is expressed in its Police Formation Program. Police officers and criminology interns are brought into the center from time to time to learn about CICLs (children in conflict with the law), the new laws regarding juvenile justice, and the programs offered by Bahay Pag-asa Youth Center. They are given a tour of the center by the residents themselves. Perhaps what is most important is that these officers and interns are able to meet the residents and to see what they are like after being at Bahay Pag-asa. It is hoped that, when these present and future officers of the law come into contact with a juvenile have allegedly committed an offense, they will see the young person as having the potential to be a good citizen and treat him accordingly.