Juvenile delinquents segregated from adults

With the signing into law of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, we hope that all minor offenders still detained with adult suspects will be transferred to youth homes as soon as possible. We understand that in Metro Manila this is already being implemented, but in the provinces there are some problems.

Undoubtedly, the policy of segregating juvenile delinquents from adult prisoners is very sound. You cannot mix teenage prisoners with adults. That is one way of exposing them to more crimes when they should be undergoing rehabilitation while in prison. The first problem of course, is facilities. We don't have enough prison space for both and to have separate prisons for the young and the adults will certainly involve a lot of money. But it has to be done.

There should be a rehabilitation program for both young and adult prisoners. Many are in prison because they cannot find jobs and they can't get jobs because they have had absolutely no training in any kind of work. Again, we must admit, the problem here is such programs also involve a lot of money. College Assurance Plan went into a program to help prisoners in Muntinglupa. It consisted of giving the prisoners the opportunity of furthering their education while being in prison. We are pleased to say that several have not only graduated but their going to school while in prison helped them get parole.

We wish that a group would conduct a study to see whether people who serve prison terms come out better or worse persons. We can't see how being in constant company with criminals can improve any individual. In Spanish, they have the saying, "Tell me the company you keep and I will tell you who you are."

Outside prison, we have problems dealing with constant crimes. We refer in particular to the crime committed by terrorists. At present, this involves the constant reports that we get of journalists or members of activity groups such as Bayan Muna being killed by assassins. Abroad, the Philippines is considered as the second most dangerous place for newspapermen next only to Iraq. We sincerely believe that this is a misconception because the great number of alleged journalists that have been assassinated are supposed to be journalists in places where there are no newspapers.

The other day, a photo-journalist was shot in Caloocan City. The photo-journalist was also a barangay councilman of Lupa Gozun Compound of Barangay Letre, Malabon City. The police investigating the murder doubts that his assassination had any bearing with his being a journalist. It seems as if the photo-journalist had been implicated in a murder charge that was dismissed.

What surprised us is that all the major newspapers are based in Metro Manila while the so-called journalists who have been murdered were from the provinces. Most, if not all of them, were so-called freelance writers. We really cannot understand the recent rash of killings victimizing newsmen or members of activist groups. At the same time, we also cannot convince ourselves that so many journalists killed were not media related.

It's just too big a coincidence.