Street children gamble behind Zamboanga police headquarters

Street children gamble Saturday, June 13, 2009 at the back of the Zamboanga City police headquarters. Last year, a street boy, Benjamin Mariga, was found dead in the remote Abong-Abong area in Zamboanga City. He was stabbed 17 times. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

Gov't Urged To Do More About Juvenile Delinquents

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 05 Mar) – The party list group, Kabataan, expressed alarm Monday over the growing juvenile delinquency problems in the Philippines.

It said the government should do more to address the problems and save the children’s future.

“The government can do something better than criminalizing minors who are into anti-social activities. They are victims too of the problems of the society,” Karla Hyasmind Apat, the group’s vice president for Mindanao, said.

Apat said the prevalence of juvenile delinquency cases should be perceived not as a criminal offense but as a by-product of the ills of the current system.

“As victims of social crisis, youth offenders should not be criminalized instead should be given help by the state,” Apat said.

She said the state has the prime accountability in the rise of juvenile delinquents, citing previous studies released by both state and non-governmental child institutions that show most of these minors come from poor families.

“Helping juvenile delinquents entails uprooting poor families from theirdepressing state of poverty. Poverty is a major factor in pushing the youth toward lawlessness. The government should start pouring budget into basic social services instead of prioritizing debt servicing and the military,” Apat said.

“The increasing number of juvenile delinquents reflects the crisis of education which pushes more and more students out of school making them vulnerable to commit anti-social activities,” she said.