The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is establishing additional government-run rehabilitation facilities nationwide as part of intensified efforts to bring the full spirit of the juvenile justice law into action, especially for children in conflict with the law (CICL).
During the 6th National Family Courts Summit, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council (JJWA) Act “upholds a lot of beautiful concepts,” and emphasized that the Department is determined to translate those concepts into tangible, life-changing programs and innovations.
“A lot of people would just equate me being the Secretary of Social Welfare because of the financial assistance that we give day in and day out. But a lot of the innovations that we are to discuss this morning are actually part of the development side of it,” Secretary Gatchalian told the 491 family court judges and other key justice stakeholders gathered at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel on Monday.
One of the landmark innovations cited by Gatchalian is the recent groundbreaking of the agricultural camp in Palawan.
This is in accordance with the 50-year-old Presidential Decree No. 603 of 1974 or the Child and Youth Welfare Code, which mandates the establishment of agriculture or forestry camps where CICLs can serve their sentence instead of confinement in a regular penal institution.
Gatchalian said the concept of agri-camp, which was also later absorbed into Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (JJWA), was the brainchild of former President Ferdinand E. Marcos, Sr.
“Again, it’s a fifty-year dream that’s going to come into full fruition,” the secretary said, citing that the camp is slated to open its doors for CICLs next year.
