A threat to children’s future

The Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC), a nonstock, nonprofit, nongovernmental organization that is duly registered with the Department of Social Welfare and Development as a community-based and family welfare agency, hails the March 20 editorial cartoon of Jess Abrera. The cartoon clearly depicted the perils children in the countryside are exposed to during military operations.

In relation to this, allow us to present facts and figures. This year alone, we have already documented four children killed and five injured during military operations.

With Oplan Bayanihan’s peace and development activities, military troops are supposedly deployed in rural communities to win the hearts of people; instead human rights violations victimizing children have been documented in these areas.

A 6-year-old girl named Rosa from a Tumandok tribe in Panay was killed by shrapnel believed to have come from an M-203 rifle of the military, while her younger sister Lina, 4, was injured in the same incident. The Armed Forces of the Philippines immediately blamed its enemies, declaring that these two children were recruited to assemble improvised explosive devices. Relatives and community members, however, are saying that military armament and ammunitions like the M-203 are stored in a place where only government soldiers are allowed.

Military troops are also occupying schools, day care centers or barangay halls for use as barracks and/or posts, resulting in the disruption of classes and more  school dropouts due to fear. We have also documented cases of child-victims exhibiting psychological and mental trauma as a result of military operations.

The brutality, frequency and the intensity of these violations are disquieting because our children have not been spared and the perpetrators have not been brought to the bar of justice. Our children deserve to fully enjoy their rights and to be protected. They should be playing, studying and living in a peaceful community and not in constant sorrow and fear.

As children’s rights advocate, CRC remains committed to seek justice for these children and their families; and to continually hold President Aquino accountable for the grave violations of children’s rights.

—JACQUILINE RUIZ, executive director,

Children’s Rehabilitation Center,

[email protected]