JUVENILE JUSTICE IN THE PHILIPPINES

BACKGROUND ON JUVENILE CRIME AND THE LEGAL SITUATION INTHE PHILIPPINES IN THE
EARLY 1990s

The problems of street children and juvenile delinquents are much related
social problems. To survive in the street you almost have to become delinquent. Exposed to
criminal elements these children are vulnerable to prostitution, drug addiction and pushing and
commission of crimes. Most street children have become juvenile delinquents either out
of necessity (because they are poor) or through force (because of the syndicates). Young
people in the streets are also criminalized and stigmatized for no obvious crime committed. So
many times the streets were cleaned up at the start of the tourist season and as a consequence
many street children were jailed because of vagrancy laws.

A large problem arose from the treatment accorded to the juveniles when they
were placed in jails. Most juvenile delinquents were not segregated from the hardened adult
criminals in the biggest jails in the Philippines, such as in the Muntinlupa jail outside Manila, so
that after their release they went back in the street with more knowledge of crime. This
severely hampered the social integration of the youth offenders after they left prison. Chances
were high that these young offenders would become chronic delinquents and eventually
hardened criminals.

Presidential Degree no. 603 otherwise known as the Child and Youth Welfare Code was
signed into law on December 10, 1974 and became effective six months after its approval. This
code mentions in Chapter 3, articles 189-204, the care and treatment of youthful offenders
from the time of apprehension up to the termination of the case.

Before Marcos time the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts provided a unique form
of adjudication to youthful offenders and disposal of family cases. It was effective
in administering justice, because the methods were not adversarial, but it was oriented to
rehabilitation. It viewed the minor as a victim not as an aggressor. It undertook the reformation
of the youth with the purpose of integration of him or her into mainstream society.

However, on January 17, 1980 the Judiciary Reorganization Act or Batasang Pambansa
129 abolished the Juvenile and Domestic Relations Courts. Section 23 of that law authorized the
Supreme Court to designate certain branches of the Regional and Municipal Courts to act
exclusively on juvenile and domestic relations cases. However, these courts functioned also as
courts of general jurisdiction which meant that separate proceedings for youthful offenders
were not possible. This in spite of the fact, that the Philippines had signed all the International
Treaties concerning the rights of children.
 In the final years of the Marcos era, crime became hardened in the street. Between1976
and 1983 murder, robbery, theft, rape and homicide rose from 37% to 58% of all crimes
committed. Delinquent youth doubled from 3,814 in 1987 to 6,778 in 1989.The majority (59.1
%) apprehended were between 17 and 21 years old, while another31.8% were between 13 and
16 years old. Only 2.3 % were preteens. This was the situation based on data given by the
Department of Social Welfare (1).

Under Pilipino law, article 189 of Presidential Decree 1179, a youthful offender is over
nine but under eighteen years of age of the time the offence is committed. Children under the
age of nine are exempt from criminal responsibility and those between nine and fifteen are
liable only if they are able to demonstrate discernment, which is a level of intellectual maturity
including the ability to distinguish right from wrong.

There are seven penitentiaries in the Philippines. Two of them are in Metro Manila, two
elsewhere in Luzon, one in the Visayas and two in Mindanao. As of November1992, these
penitentiaries had a total of 14,007 inmates. More than half of them (or7,717) were at the
Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa, Metro Manila, which is the most crowded. There were 72
provincial jails, one for every province, in the country. There are 60 city jails and 1,506
municipal jails all over the country. The conditions in these jails and rehabilitation centres
were deplorable. The worst one was the rehabilitation centre named the Molave Youth Center.
According to PAHRA (2), the Molave Youth Home suffered from a 67% rate of congestion. Its
ideal capacity was only 100 yet an average of 167 offenders was being housed there.