EDITORIAL— Where are the Bahay Pag-asa facilities?

A band hired by the local government welcomed students as in-person classes resumed last Monday at the San Jose National High School in Tacloban City.

The effort to provide a positive atmosphere was accompanied by measures to make students, teachers and school personnel feel secure. Walk-through metal detectors had been installed, augmented by mandatory bag inspections and police presence. At least 16 closed-circuit television cameras were also newly installed.

Two classrooms, cleaned and repainted, had been converted into offices or stockrooms. The rooms were those in which three students were shot dead by two schoolmates aged 14 and 15 on June 22. Twenty others were wounded in the shooting rampage, with the 14-year-old firing nearly all of more than 30 rounds from a 9mm pistol.

Grieving parents of the victims have expressed outrage that the 14-year-old isn’t in jail for the multiple killings and frustrated murder, but instead has been committed to a juvenile reformatory.

The treatment of the juvenile shooter has ignited debate over the age of criminal responsibility, currently at over 15. It has also highlighted the acute lack of facilities for juvenile offenders, particularly for those who commit heinous crimes.

Under Republic Act 10630, which amended RA 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, provinces and highly urbanized cities must set up a Bahay Pag-asa for children in conflict with the law, focusing on restorative justice and rehabilitation.

The facility must have an “intensive juvenile intervention and support center” for those aged 12 to 15 who commit serious crimes. It must also have a team composed of a doctor, social worker, mental health professional, educational or guidance counselor and a member of the local Barangay Council for the Protection of Children.

But 13 years since the passage of RA 10630, only 30 out of 83 provinces and 28 out of 33 highly urbanized cities have set up a Bahay Pag-asa. Some municipalities and component cities also have their own facilities.

Only 28 of the facilities have been accredited by the Department of Social Welfare and Development. Tacloban, a highly urbanized city, does not have a Bahay Pag-asa. The school shooters are currently held in a regional youth reformatory operated by the DSWD in Tanauan, Leyte.

Child welfare advocates and the Commission on Human Rights have noted that many of the facilities are congested, understaffed and lacking in resources, providing inadequate education and health care to the wards.

Certain officials have cited the challenges in setting up and operating a decent Bahay Pag-asa, with the facilities getting low priority in local funding. Perhaps the Tacloban school shooting, and the continuing threats of violence in schools will change this mindset.