Home 
I am quite worried that authorities have proposed a review of the Juvenile Justice Law because they are alarmed by the involvement of minors in crimes. His Eminence Ricardo Cardinal Vidal has made the same call, following reports that organized crime groups are using minors in their operations.
I believe there is nothing wrong with the law, which takes into account studies on the ill effects of jail terms on minors in conflict with the law. Jailing young offenders does not in a way help them become good citizens. As a matter of fact, they become worse. Putting them in prison facilities together with adult convicts does not constitute rehabilitation.
Many local government officials want them sent to jail without realizing that this would just prepare them for bigger crimes. When children in conflict with the law are made to live among hardened criminals in cramped prisons, they are more likely to do worse after they have served their terms. Prison conditions in our country do not encourage rehabilitation.
Our local governments should do the tasks assigned to them by the Juvenile Justice Law: provide rehabilitation centers and programs for young offenders. Sad to say, they are shirking their responsibilities by saying they don?t have enough money for this. Another problem is that we don?t have trained personnel to handle minors in conflict with the law.
We must not forget that children became what they are because of the way they were brought up by their parents and because of social influences. If parents neglect their duties in taking good care of their children and if society refuses to act adequately on the parents? shortcomings, then we can expect to have more children violating the law. It takes a community to take good care of our children.
The biggest issue raised by some government officials to justify their wanting to send young offenders to jail is that these minors are being used by organized criminal groups. These groups use children as drug couriers, knowing that if the minors are caught, they can?t be sent to jail. By why are we blaming these children when in fact they are mere victims? Do we punish the children and let the drug lords do more business? If we send these children to prison, we?re victimizing them further.
Local government officials should take a good look at the problem. It?s absurd to have local governments go hard on minors used by crime groups instead of running after the crime bosses. Why isn?t anyone taking responsibility for the children?s run ins with the law? It is sad that grownups would rather have minors jailed instead of helping them. Society needs to do some serious rethinking.
* * *
Many people wonder why we have a power crisis. We have power shortages not only in Mindanao but in the Visayas and Luzon as well, so people are worried that the power crisis ? right in the election period ? is in fact part of a grand plan to cheat in the polls.
As critics of the Arroyo administration point out, the government could have prevented the power shortage if it had worked on the power supply problem, which was projected a decade ago. Malacañang had a lot of options then to avert a power crisis.
Apparently, something went very wrong because even the Department of Energy doesn?t have a handle on the situation. It has failed to address the deficiency of electricity supply, which makes people ask what the department has been doing all these years.
So why is there a massive power supply deficit in Mindanao now that the election is fast approaching? Is the government deliberately doing it? Is the government faking it? Or is government simply incompetent? Wasn?t government able to foresee the problem?
No one believes that government overlooked the power supply problem. The economic impact of power outages is too great to ignore, and one doesn?t have to have a Ph.D. in economics, like President Glora Arroyo, to see that.
I?m quite worried that the lack of power supply may be part of a scheme by some unscrupulous administration officials to manipulate or sabotage the election process. It is hoped that our people and the Catholic Church would be vigilant in exercising their rights in protecting our right of suffrage. We can?t afford another national scandal.
