Human Rights Committee - Philippine Center for Investigative ...

Despite the prohibition under Article VI, Section 10(a) of the Special Child
Protection Act (Republic Act 7610) 29 of the jailing of children with adult prisoners as a
form of cruelty, neglect, abuse, and act that puts children in conditions inimical and
injurious to their development, the Department of Justice has never initiated any
investigation or prosecution of law enforcers, their superiors, and civilian authorities for
the widespread incarceration of children with adult crime suspects in police jails
nationwide.
This is because the DOJ and the Philippine National Police are in fact in cahoots
in committing this inhumanity. DOJ prosecutors routinely charge police child prisoners in
court and tacitly authorize law enforcers to imprison children in police jails swarming with
adult crime suspects.
Despite a long-standing petition by members of the public and the Coalition to
require inquest prosecutors to ensure that children get diverted and turned over by law
enforcers to the custody of social workers pursuant to the mandate of Article 191 of the
Child and Youth Welfare Code or Presidential Decree 603, the Philippine state persists
in committing this brutality against children who mostly belong to the poorest of the poor.
This underscores the climate of impunity, animated by esprit de corps among
public officials, surrounding the state crime of jailing children with adult crime suspects.
Commission on Human Rights
The Philippine Commission on Human Rights (CHR) has repeatedly decried the
Philippine government’s unjustifiable neglect in complying with its mandatory treaty
obligations. As evidenced by its resolution dated December 17, 2003, 30 the Commission
on Human Rights has been demanding for the Office of the President to observe the
Philippine government’s obligation under the Covenant. However, the Commission’s
plea remains unheeded up to this day.
Office of the President
No power in the Philippines could enforce the diversion of children at the precise
point of arrest other than the Office of the President. This is because of the multifaceted
and multi-layered nature of the twin evils of police child detention and the mixing
up of children with adult crime suspects in an institutionalized, continuing, and
widespread manner. Hence, coordinative and collaborative actions and efforts need to
be exerted by, between, and among the governmental departments and agencies that
are all under the sole and exclusive supervisory authority, power, and control of the
President. These include the Department of Justice, the Department of Interior and
Local Governments, and the Department of Social Welfare and Development. DILG
controls both the Philippine National Police and Bureau of Jail Management and
Penology. All these departments have to be mobilized in order to ensure the proper
enforcement of the Child and Youth Welfare Code for law enforcers to commit to the
custody of social workers all children upon arrest without exemption and without
qualification.
It is the President who appoints the heads of DSWD, DILG, and DOJ. All the
secretaries of these departments take their cue from and follow the policy priorities and
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