Viewpoint
‘Funeral water’
By Juan Mercado
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:44:00 01/13/2009
Filed Under: Crime and Law and Justice, Punishment, Laws, Legislation
The column titled, “Lucid plea, bum joke” (Philippine Daily Inquirer, 1/8/09) triggered comment on the plight of prisoners. Many lack the political clout or cash of the former jailbird “Jose Velarde.” So, they waste away in festering jails.
“I visited the Malabon city jail,” emailed Jun Acebedo. “Upon entering the inmates’ room, amoy araw (body odor) attacked my nostrils even though a huge industrial fan blew at them.
“Then, there was big applause. It was the first time that anyone made ‘dalaw’ [visit] to Robert….. ‘Wow!’ exclaimed an inmate. ‘Si Robert may dalaw.’
“I brought two containers of mineral water, some P80 worth of pan de sal and 10 sachets of palaman. ‘Aba, si Robert makakainom na ng mineral water, sa halip na funeral water,’ the guard commented.”
Rosendo M. Dial is the Bureau of Jails Management and Penology chief. His email, crunched out by the “media affairs” unit of the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), claimed the pens are doing just fine. “Help us in betterment of jail service (sic) by writing only the truth.” Excerpts:
The BJMP oversees 1,069 jails nationwide. Prison population increases by about 5 percent annually. The jail population is projected to crest at 69,693 by 2010.
Today’s jails hold 61,021 inmates. “Of this total, 356 are minor offenders,” he claims. The total is “not 20,000” as reported by the Philippine Bar Association and cited by Chief Justice Reynato Puno.
He denies the Save the Children Foundation report that some children in Southern Mindanao prisons were raped and sodomized. “The BJMP does not mistreat child detainees. We keep them in cells separate from adult offenders, if there is an absence of youth detention centers… Female wardens are assigned as custodians to ensure appropriate care.
“The BJMP is strengthening its paralegal programs. [This] facilitates release of inmates. The bureau coordinates… with the Supreme Court, whose Justice on Wheels program has hastened releases.
“Three detention centers [were] established exclusively for female prisoners. Each jail facility in the National Capital Region maintains separate confinement facilities or ‘female dormitories.’ These house women prisoners and are overseen by a wardress. “
The BJMP, Red Cross and National Tuberculosis Control Program address the increasing number of prisoners afflicted with TB. Other projects include the biogas digester in Davao which converts human waste into methane gas for fuel.
The bureau “continuously works” to take over provincial and sub-provincial jails. Four provincial governments already turned over their management of their jails to the bureau.
Pray, what country is the good director writing about? Reputable organizations would not recognize what the BJMP director has portrayed.
Over 50,000 children have been detained since 1995. This fractured “international statutes and the country’s own laws,” according to Amnesty International. About 10,515 are jailed yearly, the Juvenile Justice Network estimates. Many arrests are for petty infractions like playing cards on a sidewalk.
The estimate of jailed children made by the Philippine Jesuit Prison Service is strikingly close to what the Philippine Bar Association and the Chief Justice presented.
The UNICEF and the Council on Welfare of Children found that three out of four kids stay in jail for more than six months. That’s far longer than if they had been sentenced for the minor crimes they were arrested, like vagrancy.
The BJMP ignores entirely the US State Department report on human rights. Only a fifth of prisons have separate cells for minors, it says. And a bare two-fifths have facilities for women. “There were reports of widespread corruption among guards and higher-up officials.”
Not even Dial claims that all BJMP personnel are angels. Local and international agencies have documented many instances of kids being brutalized. “Cruel treatment is part of everyday life for children while they are incarcerated.” Cradel Youth Detention Center had to be padlocked when Preda Foundation documented abuse of children.
There have been small improvements since the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Law (Republic Act 9344) was enacted in 2006, US and other agencies note. But gains would be wiped out if RA 9344 were to be repealed.
Rep. Mauricio Domogan of Baguio City and Rep. Salvador Escudero of Sorsogon would do just that. They would set the age of criminal liability at nine years. “If approved, expect many more waifs nine years and older to stare from behind bars, fearful of a beating by guard or cell boss, or being raped by older prisoners,” writes Fr. Shay Cullen of Preda.
Legislators instead should pull unannounced visits to jails. “Pick the ones that bar visitors and social workers,” Cullen suggests. “See the subhuman conditions for yourselves. Animals live better.”
A “sunshine” law is also needed, one that directs youth detention centers to let social workers of accredited child care agencies in. “At present, they are barred. And there’s so much to hide.”
The BJMP, meanwhile, asks for P265 million to hire 500 more guards. What is needed more than guards are rehabilitation homes. The experience of the open homes shows that 9 out of 10 kids will remain if their basic needs and rights are respected.
Cullen adds: “There’s no need to change the present law, just the medieval mentality that jails children”—and forces them to gulp down “funeral water.”
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Email: juanlmercado@gmail.com
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