Time to revisit Sen. Pangilinan's Juvenile Act

I don’t know what goes on in the minds of Lapu-Lapu City officials these days. The latest I heard from them about the case of that poor 13-year-old Charisse Rosal who was gang-raped and murdered by her own friends and her naked body dumped in the bushes of Barangay Looc last week, was to strictly implement the curfew law! Is this all that you guys can do to prevent crime by youthful offenders in Lapu-Lapu City? I really would like to know where in heavens did these city officials learn that having a curfew reduce the incidence of rape and other similar crimes.

This suggestion by the Lapu-Lapu City councilor shows their lack of determination or creativity to solve the problems plaguing the youth in their city. Our national hero Dr. Jose Rizal once said, “The youth is the hope of the Fatherland.” What hope is there for the youth of Lapu-Lapu City if and when the City Council thinks that a heinous crime like what happened to Charisee Rosal can be solved by implementing an 11:00PM to 5:00AM curfew? What about the drinking and carousing by these minors of liquor that is also against the law or that many of them were intoxicated by the use of rugby?

What is needed in Lapu-Lapu City is police visibility and a strict campaign to stop establishments from selling liquor to minors. This is happening not only in Lapu-Lapu City, but in all cities of Metro Cebu. There was a time when gas stations only sold gasoline or engine oil. Today, many gas stations have become sari-sari stores, selling anything from food, newspapers to soft drinks and liquor.

I have been in these gas station stores and convenience stores in Metro Cebu. I have never heard the cashier ask a buyer for beer or hard liquor for identification to ascertain the age of the buyer. In most western countries, they are very strict about stores selling these prohibited items to minors lest their businesses would be closed and shut down for good.

Perhaps now is the time to revisit the national laws or if any, local governmental ordinances governing the sale of liquor or other items such as cigarettes to minors. For all we know, the fines for violating such rules might be so miniscule, those establishments merely laugh at these laws. Revisiting these laws or enacting new ones if they don’t have them is one positive move that the cities of Metro Cebu can do. It is time that we get strict in selling liquor or cigarettes to minors or even allowing them inside bars or nightspots.

However, no matter what they do, it cannot bring back the life of Charisse Rosal. What we do know is that we have juvenile criminals or a politically correct term for them “children-in-conflict-with-the-law” in our midst who could do harm once again if they are returned to the streets. While we are at it, perhaps the Lapu-Lapu City Council should spearhead the campaign to abolish the so-called Pangilinan Law that protects minors from being convicted and imprisoned for the crimes they commit.

I can understand the frustration of Lapu-Lapu City Police Chief, Police Senior Superintendent Mariano Natuel when he said that while all the suspects in this case have been arrested, three of them could not be charged because they are under 15 years of age and protected by the Juvenile Act. So the three underage suspects will be turned over to the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and eventually freed when all this would already be forgotten.

If the City of Lapu-Lapu asks Congress through a resolution to revisit the Juvenile Act, perhaps it might do some good to our country where children-in-conflict-with-the-law have already become a menace not only to their fellow youth, but to society as a whole.

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Even before we could comment on this raging issue, Asia City Publishing Group (ACPG) the Hong Kong Magazine that featured an article by Chip Tsao entitled “The War at Home” who wrote that Filipino is a “Nation of Servants” that the Filipino community found to be insulting to Filipinos have apologized last Monday. Here’s the gist of that public apology.

“The publisher and editors of HK Magazine wish to apologize unreservedly for any offense that may have been caused by Chip Tsao’s column dated March 27. HK Magazine has long championed the rights of Filipinos working in Hong Kong, and that they make an important contribution to this community. As a magazine, we would never want to say anything that would negate that belief.”  It’s more than obvious to us that Chip Tsao only sees Filipino maids in Hong Kong. He did not meet the thousands of Filipino compradors that shop in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district to sell back in the Philippines!