Real Score: Make them hope

Youth is the hope of our country Dr. Jose Rizal once said. But what will happen if these young “hopes” became a violent citizen? Would you still trust them to be the future of our nation?

According to Section 2 of the Philippine Constitution, the state recognizes the vital role of children and youth in nation building and promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual and social well-being.

But, we are in the age that the youth are more involved in crimes such as drugs, theft, hold-ups, human trafficking and other more. Juvenile Delinquency is being felt in our country. According to Chiz Escudero and Sen Panfilo Lacson

Meanwhile, Juvenile delinquency also known as teenage crime is the habitual committing of criminal act or offenses committed by young people typically below 18 years old.

Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero who was the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights and was a critic of the act five years ago, said according to the reports that criminal syndicates use juveniles in their illegal operations because they know that under the law, minors can be exempted even if they act as drug and crime agents.

Sen. Panfilo Lacson agreed on Escudero’s view based on the reports. “If you will notice, the age of the minors involved in crimes is getting younger. How can we serve justice if they are exempted in the crime they are committing?” former PNP Chief, Lacson said.

What could have caused my co-youth in this issue? Well, Statistics showed that most of the Filipino juvenile offenders come from poor families. And that can determine a lot of factors of why they involve their selves to crime. One sad fact is because they think they don’t have any choice but to do the wrong thing. And commonly the problem starts with the family. If the parents could only have done good parenting with their children and become molders of good will with their children then maybe there’s still a difference. Because, we all know that the family is the basic unit of life and society, it’s as important as to it’s a big part of your upbringing.

Moreover, A law was also established in regards to this, Republic Act No. 9344 also known as the “Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006” covers the different stages involving children at risk and children in conflict with the law from prevention to rehabilitation and reintegration.

Child refers to a person under the age of eighteen (18) years old. “Child in Conflict with the Law” (CICL) refers to a child who is alleged as, accused of, or adjudge as having committed an offense under Philippine Laws. In R.A 9344, the child has the right to bail and exempted from the Application of Death Penalty.

After a year of implementation, DSWD data shows that from 8,661 CICLs served by the agency in year 20016, statistics decreased about 2,500 from 2007 to 2009. Even so, five years after the act was executed, critics found it ineffective.

And maybe one reason why this law was implemented and ineffective is because we know that the youth needs justice and they are just victims of the crime. But, maybe it made it ineffective is that maybe because we are soft hearted race with so much care to our families and that is also the weakness of our breed. We cannot save them by just caring and understanding them, giving them the full support and waiting them to change. We need to stop where it was started. Where is the root of these delinquents? In the family, the first institution. Where there are father and mother that must care and take the responsibility of parenthood. Parents are expected to guide, love, and develop the child’s personality. If this first stage fail, 80 percent of the whole behavior of the teen will surely affected.

And If Rizal took a sneak peek in what is happening today he will surely be upset of what is happening to his mother country and to its citizens because in the end, who knows maybe in the end he may have lost his fight against his expectations or win his testimony.

So, would you want to be a juvenile delinquent? If no, pack your luggage and migrate to other country. If yes, be a responsible citizen. Be the captain of your own ship, sail it carefully with the right choices.