Look, Digong: Mandaluyong parents pay for kids’ offenses

The local government of Mandaluyong is calling on presumptive President-elect Rodrigo “Digong” Duterte to look at its ordinance that holds parents responsible for offenses committed by minors, saying it has worked as a crime deterrent in the city.

Since the implementation of Ordinance No. 538 or the Code of Parental Responsibility in March 2014, crimes involving children have dropped by nearly 75 percent in the city, according to public information chief Jimmy Isidro.

Based on data from the women and children’s protection desk of the local police, Mandaluyong recorded 256 cases of crimes involving children, from simple mischief to street rioting and robbery, in 2013. When the ordinance was enforced, the number dropped to 77 in 2014 and 73 in 2015, Isidro said.

On Sunday, Duterte announced that under the curfew for minors that he plans to implement nationwide, the police would arrest the parents of children found roaming the streets without adult supervision after 10 p.m. The minors would be turned over to social workers, he said, adding that this policy has been in force in Davao City, where he has governed as mayor for years.

Mandaluyong also imposes a 10 p.m. curfew on minors. Isidro noted, however, that the local ordinance punishes the parents not only when their children violate the curfew or get involved in crime, but also when they have deprived their children of education and health services and allowed them to engage in gambling and other vices.

“With this ordinance, the family grows closer to the government. They become more aware of their responsibilities and not become too dependent of the government,” Isidro told the Inquirer on Thursday. “We can supplement (Duterte’s) planned curfew with a more holistic policy like our Code.”

Under the ordinance authored by reelected Councilor Charisse Abalos, first-time violators are fined P1,000 or jailed for three months. According to Isidro, the measure was seen as Mandaluyong’s response to the rising number of crimes involving children, which the public often blame on the law that exempts offenders aged below 15 years old from criminal prosecution.

He was referring to the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act of 2006, a law authored by reelected Sen. Francis Pangilinan.

Isidro said other local governments, like those in Batangas and Leyte provinces, had talked to Mandaluyong officials about replicating the measure in their own areas.