A look at Cebu City’s Operation Second Chance

Last Aug. 9, thousands of Filipinos watched a CNN documentary by Chris Rogers of ITV News entitled "Child Prisoners" which no doubt horrified many of our parents that, indeed, there are children below 18 years old who are languishing in our jails mixed with hardened criminals… or worse sex offenders like pedophiles! The only consolation for me about that CNN report was that the documentary, taken with the help of Fr. Shay Cullen, wasn’t about a jail in Cebu, but one of the jails in Manila. But nonetheless, it was still embarrassing for us Filipinos.

However, this doesn’t mean that we didn’t have this problem in Cebu once upon a time. I said once upon a time because as early as 1998, Mrs. Margot Osmeña, wife of Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña, already saw juvenile prisoners at the Bagong Buhay Rehabilitation Center (BBRC) and she wanted to separate these kids from the adult criminals. But first things first, she initially created Task Force Street Children to give homeless street kids a temporary shelter prior to their being set up for a better life.

With Task Force Street Children already operational, Mrs. Osmeña went on with her plans to build a separate juvenile detention center, which was named Cebu City’s Operation Second Chance Center, located at Kalunasan Hills, right behind the Guadalupe Church. This facility was constructed from the donations of many kind-hearted Cebuanos. My good friends Paul and Janice Minor are regular supporters of this facility. Another good friend, Engr. Ricky Dakay of Dakay Construction, voluntarily offered his free services and on Feb.24, 2002, the facility was operational.

It is just unfortunate that the CNN report focused on negative things about the Philippines as far as children behind bars are concerned. They never bothered to see what Mrs. Osmeña’s Operation Second Chance has been doing here in Cebu City. Perhaps, it is also Mrs. Osmeña’s fault because she’s the kind who doesn’t want to advertise her lifelong work and passion.

But never mind CNN because they obviously have no investigative team assigned in the Philippines (which was why they tapped Chris Rodgers of ITV News), but it pains us when a local publication also publishes only negative stories when in truth, some good things have been happening in Cebu City. I’m referring to the March 28, 2005 article entitled "Behind Bars" of Page 10 of Newsbreak Magazine.

I asked Mrs. Osmeña about her comments on that article and she said it was taken from a documentary entitled "Bunso," a story about a child prisoner in the Cebu City jail. But then Mrs. Osmeña asked, "Why is Newsbreak making this story only now… they should have come to Cebu City and checked if things were still the same when that video was taken!" Indeed, things have changed in Cebu as far as juvenile prisoners are concerned. I, too, haven’t been to this facility since it was inaugurated three years ago and because of that CNN report, I told Mrs. Osmeña that I would feature this facility in my talk show, Straight from the Sky, so I went there last Wednesday to tape the show with Mrs. Osmeña and her staff.

Frankly speaking, I didn’t expect to see what I saw; after all, I’m one of the loudest critics of facilities run by the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), which also runs Cebu City’s BBRC — that worse-than-a-sardine-can city jail where prisoners have to take turns sleeping simply because there’s not enough room. But three years into its life, Operation Second Chance still smelled new; it really doesn’t look like a prison… rather it looks more like a retreat house!

I must take my hat off to jail warden J/CINSP Neil R. Avisado and Operation Second Chance executive director Annabelle Cuizon for doing a great job, especially in this kind of environment. In an adult jail, the BJMP is lord and master and takes charge of everything. In Operation Second Chance, there are 18 BJMP men in charge of jail security as well as two social workers and 10 house parents. The men of the BJMP in regular jails don’t have to work hand-in-hand with social workers whose training is totally different, where they must get the confidence of the child, while jail guards are trained to be suspicious of prisoners. This is a unique set-up.

I must say that this facility is appropriately named as minor offenders can still continue with their grade school; they are taught basic literacy and more importantly, they learn new skills, thanks to the Don Bosco skills training program which donated state-of-the-art carpentry and wood-working equipment that would make vocational schools green with envy. Indeed, Operation Second Chance gives these kids a second chance at getting themselves a new life. If only this facility is duplicated in our major cities.

The only problem remaining for many child prisoners is, too often, their parents won’t accept them back. Truth to tell, the reason why many children land in jail in the first place is the lack of attention by many irresponsible parents. It is a strange phenomenon, but there are kids inside who are now free of their legal troubles, but refuse to return home. Perhaps because the center is well run, they feel at home there and they have made new friends inside and cannot trust their friends in the outside world.

More importantly, those kids eat three square meals a day. When Mrs. Osmeña arrived for our taping, she brought a sack of santol and told the cooks that they were going to have chicken for lunch and dinner. Food is donated by many kind-hearted souls, hence the kids don’t want to go out to beg for food, especially if their parents don’t care for them.

No doubt, the presence of the Operation Second Chance Center has resulted in a reduction of child prisoners in Cebu City. When they started, they took away 135 kids from the BBRC and brought them to Kalunasan Hills, which had the only jail with a view. Today, there are 77 kids in that facility, only five of them females who are placed in a separate section.

So now that you know that Cebu City has this facility for minor offenders, I must say it here that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA), who comes to Cebu so often, hasn’t yet found the time to visit the wonderful center. If she does, she would realize that there is hope with the BJMP, that they can still run a good prison facility like the Operation Second Chance Center, where Cebu City is ahead, thanks to Margot Osmeña’s love for fallen children.

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For e-mail responses to this article, write to [email protected]. Bobit Avila’s columns can also be accessed through www.thefreeman.com. He also hosts a weekly talk show, "Straight from the Sky," shown every Monday, at 8 p.m., only in Metro Cebu on Channel 15 of SkyCable.