Contents:
- SC orders 12 youths out of death row
- 1M Filipino children working as domestics
- Dike in need of repair called “ticking time bomb”
SC orders 12 youths out of death row
The Supreme Court ordered justice and prison officials to remove 12minors from death row, saying it was against the law to treat youth offenders as hardened criminals. The high court directed the justice department to transfer the minors to the medium security compound of the national Penitentiary in Muntinlupa. The SC pointed out that it had long recognized that youth offenders should be afforded special treatment in the judicial system considering their “developmental stage and desired re-integration into and assumption of a constructive role in society.” Source: Michael Lim Ubac, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 2 August 2002.
1M Filipino children working as domestics
An increasing number of children are being employed as domestic servants in dire conditions across Asia amid rapid modernization and poverty, a study presented at a forum on child labor in the Philippines showed July 28. According to the study, these “modern day slaves” work in major cities and other urban centers in the region. Bangladesh tops the countries with the most number of child domestic workers with 1.2 million, followed by Indonesia (1.5 million), the Philippines (one million), Sri Lanka (100,000) and Nepal 62,000. Asia is home to more than 60 percent of working children worldwide. In the Philippines, a proposed law that would outlaw child domestic work is being debated and pushed and other countries would do well to follow suit. Source: AFP report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, 29 July 2002.
Dike in need of repair called “ticking time bomb”
Mayor Rogelio Yap of Botolan town in Zambales called the Bucao Dike a “ticking time bomb” and asked the Department of Public Works and Highways P11.4 million for immediate repair of the anti-lahar structure. According to him, several eroded portions of the dike had not been repaired in the last five years even as lahar continued to pile up at almost the same height of the structure at the upstream portion. He also urged the DPWH secretary to fortify the artificial canal at the volcano’s crater lake to prevent lahar fromtrigerring flashfloods in Botolan. Source: Tonette Orejas, Philippine Daily Inquirer Central Luzon Bureau, 1 August 2002.
