Dagupan to set up center for children in trouble
Dagupan City will open a special shelter exclusively dedicated to the city’s children who are in various forms and degrees of trouble.
Elsa Santillan, city social welfare and development officer, said Mayor Alipio Fernandez has already approved the proposal to set up a crisis center for minors.
The plan has been forwarded to the city council for fund appropriation.
Santillan told The PUNCH the proposal was prompted by the increasing number of children coming in conflict with the law (CICL) as well as minors who are abandoned, neglected or abused.
For the period January to June this year, the city social welfare and development office has recorded 49 cases of CICL, almost double the 26 cases logged in for the entire 2006.
The crimes, of which 36 were committed by boys and 13 by girls, range from theft, robbery, murder to gang rape.
Santillan said some of the cases have been settled amicably except for the heinous crimes.
The cases being faced by the CICL are undergoing marathon hearings in court.
NOT ALARMING
Santillan stressed, however, that the current situation is not alarming and is still manageable.
“It would be alarming if they are mostly involved in heinous crimes,” she said.
The common root of the problem, she said, is traceable to unstable homes where the parents are either separated or mired in poverty.
Meanwhile, the number of neglected and abandoned children in the first half of the year reached 72 and there were eight cases of sexual abuse.
The social welfare office currently does not have facilities to accommodate the victims but they have been placed under foster care of immediate relatives.
The Haven for Children built by Gina de Venecia, wife of House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr., within the city serves the entire Region 1. #
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