VZCZCXRO1789
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHML #1075/01 0670905
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 080905Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY MANILA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9813
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEABND/DEA WASHDC
RUEAWJB/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0138

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MANILA 001075 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EAP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, DRL/CRA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL KOCI SOCI OPRC RP
SUBJECT: "NO CNN CAMERA CREWS!" -- CHILD PRISONERS IN THE 
PHILIPPINES 
 
REF: 05 MANILA 2555 
 
¶1.  (U) This message is Sensitive but Unclassified -- Please 
handle accordingly. 
 
¶2.  (U) Summary:  A recent visit by emboffs to a jail in a 
town near Manila highlighted in a microcosm the problem of 
incarcerated children in the Philippines.  On the national 
level, the GRP is trying to address the situation and Mission 
is examining ways to help.  CNN recently aired a candid 
report on the plight of these children, which may prod the 
GRP to further action.  The problem faced by child inmates is 
serious, with NGOs believing that children housed in adult 
jails are highly vulnerable to sexual abuse, recruitment into 
gangs and forced labor.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------- 
Visit to Prison near Manila 
--------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) On February 22, poloff and pol LES visited a 
municipal jail in Dasmarinas, Cavite, located roughly an 
hour's drive south of Metro Manila.  The jail houses over 350 
inmates, most of them adult males.  At the time of the visit, 
the jail held 16 male juveniles.  Jail officials claimed the 
juveniles ranged in age from 14-17 (though emboffs suspected 
that at least one was much younger).  The 16 were held in the 
same cramped cell with one toilet and no beds.  There were 
two large wooden shelves for all to sleep on.  A few books 
and an ancient television provided the only relief from 
boredom.  The juvenile inmates were let out of their cell 
once a week for an hour of basketball, plus once or twice a 
day for religious and primary education classes.  Many have 
languished in the jail for months.  While not housed in the 
same cells as adults, the jail is very small and the 300-plus 
adult males are only yards away from the children. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Jail officials contended that the main problem 
regarding juvenile prisoners was a lack of resources, coupled 
with a lack of focus on the issue by some in the national, 
regional and local levels of government.  During poloff's 
separate meetings with both the governor and vice-governor of 
Cavite Province, it was clear that the issue was simply not 
on their radar screens.  The vice-governor candidly admitted 
that a multitude of problems (such as infrastructure, 
education and economic concerns) result in the neglect of 
this issue.  The governor himself was only vaguely aware of 
NGO plans to build rehabilitation homes for male juvenile 
offenders in his province. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Fortunately for the 16 children housed in the 
Dasmarinas jail, help will arrive soon.  Poloff and pol LES 
toured a comfortable, soon-to-be-opened home for them 
(located next-to, but outside the prison walls) that was paid 
for with local government funds.  During a meeting with 
poloff, the town mayor said that he could not rely on 
provincial or national government funding to solve the 
problem, and thus found the resources for the new facility 
within his own budget.  He noted, however, that his actions 
were not the norm and asserted that most local governments 
continued "to ignore" the problem. 
 
-------------------------------- 
Trying to Grapple with Situation 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Regarding the national situation of child prisoners 
writ large, the GRP says it is trying to deal with the 
situation by separating all children from the general adult 
population.  It admits, however, that it cannot afford to 
house all children in separate facilities as of this time. 
As reviewed in reftel, NGOs are trying to assist where they 
can by helping construct separate facilities. 
 
¶7. (U) With the help of the USG, some legislative action to 
deal with the child prisoners' issue has been taken.  In 
January 1999, The Children's Legal Bureau -- an NGO funded by 
USAID -- prepared a draft bill on juvenile justice reform and 
launched a lobbying campaign to push for passage.  In 
December 2004 -- five years after its introduction --  the 
Senate finally passed its version of the bill, followed by 
the House in February 2005.  The bills are expected to be 
reconciled soon, then sent to the President.  The objective 
of the legislation is to:  prevent the detention of children 
in adult jails; raise the age of criminal responsibility from 
 
MANILA 00001075  002 OF 002 
 
 
9 to 12 (House version) or 15 (Senate version), and;  provide 
for the referral of juvenile offenders to preventative as 
well as rehabilitative programs.  Through the USAID-funded 
Legal Accountability and Dispute Resolution Project (LADR), 
the Juvenile Justice Group (a coalition composed of NGOs, the 
Philippine Department of Social Welfare and Development and 
other concerned organizations)  the Mission stands ready to 
assist with implementation of the bill once it is signed into 
law.  USAID is also helping fund The Asia Foundation's Jail 
Decongestion project.  This project is not focused on 
children per se, but it is hoped that decongestion can assist 
the prison and jail system deal more adequately with all 
inmates of any age. 
 
¶8.  (U) The Mission's law enforcement agencies (embodied by 
the Law Enforcement Working Group, or,"LEWG") is also 
focusing on additional steps in this area.  The LEWG is 
currently planning to meet with top Philippine officials 
responsible for juvenile justice, including the head of the 
Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP), the Secretary 
of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) 
and officials from the Department of the Interior and Local 
Government (DILG).  One key focus of these discussions will 
be the problem of child prisoners.  Further, Mission will be 
holding a jails/prisons best practices seminar in April 2006 
that will deal with a wide range of issues, including 
juvenile prisoners. 
 
------------------ 
CNN gets attention 
------------------ 
 
¶9.  (U) In a report prepared by ITV, CNN International ran a 
second installment on child prisoners in the Philippines on 
February 1.  In their first report aired six months ago, the 
news crew visited several Metro Manila jails posing as relief 
workers, all the while filming the conditions with a hidden 
camera.  The piece proved embarrassing to the government and 
President Arroyo publicly stated that steps would be taken to 
solve the problem.  Months later the crew returned to the 
same jails and their graphic footage showed no substantial 
improvements.  Government officials were embarrassed by the 
glaring media spotlight.  Indeed, before the visit to the 
Dasmarinas jail, poloff received three separate telephone 
calls from the warden, seeking repeated reassurances that "no 
CNN camera crews" would accompany her on the tour.  Observers 
have told us that the airing of the embarrassing CNN reports 
will act to prod the GRP to focus on making progress on this 
matter. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) As demonstrated by the situation in Dasmarinas, the 
problem faced by child inmates is serious.  The exact scope 
of the problem is not clear, but probably thousands of 
children are impacted nationally.  NGOs believe that children 
housed in adult jails are highly vulnerable to sexual abuse, 
recruitment into gangs and forced labor.  In light of the bad 
publicity flowing out of the CNN reporting, the GRP appears 
to have this matter on its mind and Mission will continue to 
work with it on ways to help alleviate the problem. 
 
Jones