Leading the list of visitors was Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, who had just delivered a sponsorship speech on the floor of the Senate for the Comprehensive Juvenile Justice System (CJJS) Bill a day before. Joining him were: Nicholas Alipui, country director of Unicef, which is leading the global campaign for more humane treatment of children in conflict with the law; Caloocan City Mayor Enrico Echiverri; former Social Welfare Secretary Lina Laigo who now heads the Council for the Welfare of Children; Caloocan Executive Judge Victoria Paredes; representatives of the Juvenile Justice Network Philippines, and the media.

 A total of 29 boys were confined at the city jail that day. There was one girl, 17, who had been staying at the women's section but she was released a few days before. The situation at the Caloocan city jail merely bears out the national situation of children in conflict with the law. Most juvenile "offenders" are boys, and most - 80 percent - have committed their first and only offense.

When Pangilinan asked the boys, who were squatting in rows on the floor of their quarters, what they had done to end up in jail, most said they were there for petty crimes, mainly robbery and gambling, though one teenager was being held for murder. A group of three boys had been charged with "robbery in band," (later, a staff member of the Juvenile Justice Network who had interviewed them revealed that their crime consisted of stealing pieces of metal pipe valued at P270). One boy had been arrested for stealing a chicken and had been in jail for a week. "The chicken has already been freed but you're still here," the senator kidded him.

ON AVERAGE, according to statistics compiled by the Juvenile Justice Network, 10,515 Filipino children are being arrested and detained each year. Laigo estimates that at any one time, between 2,000 and 4,000 children can be found in jails and prisons throughout the country.

By end 2004, reports the Philippine Action for Youth Offenders (PAYO), 21 children had been meted out the death penalty, with six confined in Camp Sampaguita, and 14 are on "Death Row" at the National Penitentiary in Muntinlupa City. The lone girl convicted of a capital offense is at the Women's Correctional.

 The Juvenile Justice Network Philippines counts almost 12,000 cases of children in conflict with the law handled by the Public Attorney's Office in the first half of 2004, of which only 3,404 (29 percent) were resolved.

In many instances, children in jails and prisons end up serving longer terms than is warranted by the offenses they're charged with. Due to backlogs in the courts, children in conflict with the law have to wait months before they even get to an arraignment or hearing. Oftentimes, they're released forthwith, having served the maximum term for the offense they're accused of committing.

But being deprived of liberty and getting a fair hearing is the least of the children's concerns. Laigo worries about the long-term effects of imprisonment on children, especially those who, because of lack of facilities, end up sharing the same quarters as adult convicts. A study conducted by Save the Children Foundation in 2002 found that more than half of children in Southern Mindanao prisons reported having been sexually abused and were suffering from psychological harm. While the study found that most of the children who had been sexually abused while in custody were girls, Laigo says being sodomized is a common complaint of boys in detention.

WHILE it may not be a "magic bullet," the CJJS Bill will, it is hoped, address some of the more serious issues regarding children in conflict with the law, specifically keeping children who commit petty offenses out of jail, and provide child-rights-based treatment for them.

The bill, which has already been passed by the House committee on justice and reached plenary in the Senate in the last Congress, seeks to raise the age of criminal liability of children from the present 9 years old to 12.

It also calls for the creation of separate detention centers for children in the various prisons and jails, and the introduction of a "diversion program" for children in conflict with the law. As defined by the Juvenile Justice Network, "diversion is a process that deals with children in conflict with the law without resorting to court proceedings. Through terms the complainants, the child and his/her parents agree on-and with the help of stakeholders in the community-the child is held accountable and responsible for his/her offense. He/she is integrated back to the community through a program that includes supervision, education, counseling and community service.