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.