Legaspi

-- Where young and old in the Philippines and abroad support and recognize each other as important members of society

September 1j, 2005

Mr. Dennis C. Legaspi

Assistant Press Secretary

Office of the Press Secretary

Malacanang, Manila

The Philippines

Dear Mr. Legaspi:

On behalf of the organizations based in the Philippines and abroad, Filipinos residing in the Philippines, concerned Filipino-Americans, Filipinos working overseas, and non-Filipinos supporting the rights of children, we would like to thank you for accepting our Petition to Save Philippine Children in Prison, and delivering it to Mr Bunye and Her Excellency, together with our specific recommendations to help resolve the issue.

With the current worldwide awareness of the situation regarding children in prison, we have developed a global initiative to protect and release these children from prison, to reunite them with parents or place them in foster homes, to push for the passage, implementation and funding of the Consolidated Juvenile Justice Bill, to identify vacant government properties for use as rehabilitation centers, and more.

We are happy to receive and we applaud today's news article from Malacanang regarding the planned transfer of thousands of child offenders out of adult jails; the formation of task force made up of the justice, social welfare, and interior departments; and the setting up of a foster family system for the children by the social welfare department.

Unfortunately, we are concerned that such plans may have the same outcome (or lack of outcome) as the initiatives that were published on DECEMBER 11, 2003, by the Office of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo—speaking through presidential spokesman Ricardo Saludo—who promised to investigate and address the detention by the police upon arrest of children in cramped jails swarming with adult crime suspects all over the country.

As Filipino-Americans and OFWs that are providing dollar remittances to the Philippines and genuinely concerned about the plight of our country, please rest assured that we will remain vigilant about the protection and safety of our children in prison. Positive, concrete, and measurable results as well as active dialogues between our government officials and our grassroots community leaders, both from the Philippines and from abroad, to protect the rights of children, will hopefully result in renewed trust in our government

We truly appreciate your help in bringing our concern to the attention of our President, and we would also like to thank Mr. Sonny Sampayan of New York, for serving as our facilitator.

Sincerely,

Jocelyn H. Bruce, M.D.

President & CEO, NANAY Inc

NANAY Philippines Committee

on behalf of Global Filipinos

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Contact Information

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Postal address: 659 N.E. 125 Street, North Miami, Florida 33161
Electronic mail: joybruce@aol.com elsabayani2003@yahoo.com