Going home worried
18.08.2009
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Rachel Rodgers* is a lovely young woman from Portrush, in County Tyrone, Ireland who worked at PREDA (People's Recovery, Empowerment and Development Assistance Foundation) in Olongapo City which is about three hours by car north of Manila. She is a lawyer by profession in Dublin and took time out from her job to travel and perhaps do some volunteer work if it happened. She ended up working with PREDA which legally represents girls and boys who have been sexually abused and assists them to get justice.
They also assist boys in trouble with the law.
Rachel stayed at PREDA for four months. 'It is a great place,' she said, 'The children are lovely.' Shaking her head in dismay she said, "A lot of charges are so minor or unfounded, that they are dismissed when they finally go to court, but the children have been in jail for a year or more in appalling circumstances.
"The laws are good but they are not implemented," she said. "They had to have them in place because the Republic of the Philippines is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child".
"By 2005 they had not implemented the Convention and they had a rap over the knuckles from the United Nations because non-government organisations were telling the UN that the Philippines was doing nothing." (Columban Fr Shay Cullen prepares reports for the United Nations, conscious of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child that the Philippines signed). She added, "They have increased the age of criminal responsibility to
15 years of age. Anyone under the age of 15 should be released into the custody of their parents. The law says they should not be in custody for more than eight hours. But they don't act on it."
When children are released into PREDA's custody through their intervention teams visiting jails, a psychologist and a trained social worker interview the children. More often than not, they have been abused in one form or another.Rachel continued, "A 14-year-old boy had been in prison for five months. He was moved to another jail for four months. He was charged with stealing scrap metal worth PHP$300 (AUD$7.00). Obviously some of these young offenders are guilty but this is not justice."
She observed, "There is a lot of corruption in the system. Evidence goes missing or sometimes prosecutors will dismiss charges against an influential person. PREDA will appeal but it takes a long time to get anywhere with a case."
Rachel has returned home but the children will be on her mind. "I will be thinking, are they all right? I hope they will get enough help to have a future."
Article by Fr Gary Walker, Fr Gary Walker is the Editor of The Far East.
* Rachel Rodgers is a niece of Columban Fr Terry Bennett who has been in the Philippines for many years.
Peda website: www.preda.net
