Saturday, October 1, 2011

Baybay mayor supports move to amend RA 9344

BAYBAY CITY – The mayor of this city supports the move to amend Republic Act 9344, or the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act of 2006.

Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, chairman of the committee on justice and human rights, is the main proponent for this move in the Senate, which is gathering support from various local chief executives and even from the hierarchy of the Philippine National Police.

Mayor Carmen Cari said that to amend RA 9344 is a good move as the number of youth involved in crimes had been increasing due to provisions of said law that 15 years old and below are not criminally liable of the crime they committed.

This, aside from the reason that there are criminal elements who are using children as their front on illegal activities.

“I’m glad that this problem is not that rampant in this city,” Cari said.

Although there are cases in Baybay where children are involved in various crimes, Cari said that they cannot do anything but follow the mandate of the law, which is to let go of the minors.

But before they let the youth offenders go, Cari stressed that they are referred to a social worker for interventions.

She added that in order to fully address that needs of Children in Conflict With Law in the city, they have identified a place where they will construct a rehabilitation or holding facility for youth offenders.

The rehabilitation facility provides intervention program like counseling to ensure that youth offenders will be molded into a better citizen before going back to society.

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