The bridge of the song “Grown-Up Christmas List” popularized by Amy Grant, which purportedly exposes “this illusion called the innocence of youth” may as well be an anthem to persons who lost their loved ones due to atrocities committed by children.
Think of Alma Rocacolba, whose son Joshua Veloso, 7, died last week. A group of at least six boys reportedly taunted and chased Alma’s son to the sea in barangay Buaya, Lapu-Lapu City, where a resident eventually found Joshua’s corpse.
The disconsolate mother, who faces the ordeal of burying her son, told Cebu Daily News that she favors amending R.A. 9344 or the Juvenile Justice Law of 2004 so that kids suspected of committing crimes may be jailed instead of being given special treatment in a government intervention program.
Granting a change in the law, those who contributed to Joshua’s death would still stay free.
For lawyer Democrito Barcenas, child offenders at least 15 years old should be held liable, while those who are 12 and younger can be absolved of liability.
Many of Joshua’s tormentors are 11 years old and younger.
They are described as out-of-school youths who belong to a group of neighborhood troublemakers called “Sandugo.” Their parents are mostly garbage scavengers.
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza and law enforcers under her should look into this Sandugo group and do what they can to disband it.
We dread the day when its members may morph into yet another horde of Frankensteins like gangs Bloods and Crips that spill blood in the streets up and down Cebu province.
Still, let not that day dawn when the Juvenile Justice Law would be changed.
That youngsters are co-opted by hoodlums in dastardly deeds, as Barcenas and compañero Earl Bonachita pointed out, is reprehensible enough. To incarcerate young offenders like ruthless crooks would be to sacrifice them twice to Satan.
The first sacrifice happens with many parents’ abdication of their child-rearing role, which guarantees that not all kids will keenly discern right from wrong by the time they reach the still-tender age of 15.
Bullies take their cue from other bullies. Those who bullied Joshua, whose dying diminished us all, were victims of a harsh life exacerbated by abuses of commission or omission perpetrated by their parents and elders.
Incidents like the passing of Joshua remind the community that, amid sub-optimal conditions in our education sector, we need to impart values to children who are out of school and parenting lessons to new fathers and mothers. That would drive down the probability of kids lynching one of their own.
Joshua’s death leaves us disillusioned.
Youths when misguided can be anything but innocent.