eng - World Organisation Against Torture

Mayor Katherine Gordon. On November 9 thPreda visited the Olongapo Jail Station A. On16 square meters ten minors are detainedand stated that they had not been abused.There is a toilet in the cell, but no beds.Hence, the children are forced to sleep onthe cement floor. The jail does not provide forany recreation for the children, no television,games, sports or exercise yard. They are in24 hours detention. The walls are dirty andthe jail is full of insects, but no mosquitoscreen is provided. The children are dependenton their relatives for food. No medicalcheck-up is available to the inmates. 46The situation is certainly not ideal but thechildren do not seem to be ill-treated.5.3. Children on Death RowBy virtue of Article 37 paragraph a) of theCRC which states that ; “neither capital punishmentnor life imprisonment without thepossibility of release shall be imposed for offencescommitted by persons below eighteenyears of age”, the Philippines is exemptedfrom instituting the death penalty against aminor. The death penalty was abolished in1987 but reintroduced in 1993, but itsimposition on children was explicitly prohibited.Section 22 of Republic Act (RA)No. 7659, which amended the Revised PenalCode in order to provide for the deathpenalty, stipulates that persons below the ageof 18 at the time the crime was committedcannot be subject to the death penalty. In addition,Article 68 of the Revised Penal Code,which sets out sentencing procedures foryouth offenders, also prohibits the deathpenalty for minors.A main discrepancy in the Filipino laws isthe absence of any provision, which requiresa formal ascertainment as to whether the suspectis below the age of 18. This is the mainreason for several children to have beenplaced on the death row. The problem stemsfrom the assumption by the police, court andsocial workers that most teens are over 18.Moreover, the concerned authorities rarelytake the time to track down the birth certificatesof impoverished children who areconvicted of capital offences like murder andrape and failure to raise the issue of minorityduring trial by either defence or prosecutionpresented evidence.46 - From the Streets to the Jails, Street children victims ofprison torture, by Fr. Shay Cullen and Francis Bermido,Preda Foundation Philippines, November 2004. 48