By Dominic B. dela Cruz
Staff Reporter
Batac City—In a bid to further help children in conflict with the law (CICL), the Sangguniang Panlungsod here requested the provincial government of Ilocos Norte thru Governor Mathew Joseph M. Manotoc for the establishment of Bahay Pag-Asa in the province.
Batac councilor Kichel Jomarie Pungtilan and Batac vice mayor Atty. Windell Chua sponsored the measure which the council later approved.
Section 13 of the 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines recognizes the vital role of the youth in nation building and shall promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual and social well-being.
Records show, Mr. Pungtilan said, that there are already CICL cases in the province citing an example in this city wherein 23 CICL cases were reported from January 2016 up to the present; and five of them were sent to Bahay Pag-Asa in Bauang, La Union.
The measure, Mr. Pungtilan added, helps the families and relatives of the CICL’s not to travel anymore to La Union just to visit them.
The Ilocos Times learned that the La Union Bahay Pag-asa is the lone rehabilitation center in the whole Region I.
The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) urge local government units to establish a Bahay Pag-Asa Center for CICL in their respective jurisdictions.
The Bahay Pag-Asa Centers are youth care facilities mandated by law to offer rehabilitation and intervention to CICL under the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act.
The Bahay Pag-Asa centers are envisioned to deliver interventions that would stop a child offender from repeating offenses.
Mr. Chua, meanwhile, also expressed his favorable action as one of the main sponsors of the measure for the benefit of all the LGUs in the province.
Mr. Chua said Batac is open to host the Bahay Pag-asa.
“Tapnu saanen a marigatan dagiti kakailian tayo nga umadayo pay a mapan mangbisita dagiti miyembro iti pamilya da a CICL,” Mr. Chua explained.
Mr. Pungtilan also manifested that all members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod here are co-sponsors of the said resolution.