GUTIERREZ VISITS MINORS ON DEATH ROW
August 10, 2004
Acting Justice Secretary Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez yesterday looked into the conditions of six youth offenders who were sentenced to death and confined at the New Bilibid Prisons in Muntinlupa City.
Gutierrez assured the offenders that she will look into their case and see if they can be qualified for commutation of sentence pending the automatic review by the Supreme Court of their case. But before the government can grant any executive clemency, the decision of the court must become final.
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| Acting Justice Secretary Ma. Merceditas Gutierrez and Bureau of Corrections Director Dionisio Santiago talk to youth offenders in death row who were transferred to the Medium Security Compound after they were found to be minors upon confinement at the New Bilibid Prisons, Muntinlupa City |
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As Chair of the Special Committee on the Protection of Children, Gutierrez said minors are exempt from the capital punishment but she countered that during the time of the trial of the six minors, they have not presented any evidence of their minority.
She also ordered the Bureau of Corrections Chief on Education Resurreccion Morales to ensure that all the six attend formal or informal schooling within the Medium Security Compound.
The six were transferred from the death row to the Medium Security Compound so they will not be mixed with adults on death row.
Gutierrez also said the case of the six minors in death row is a classic example of the deprivation of their right to registration which is provided in the Convention on the Rights of the Child where the Philippines is a signatory.
She is pushing for the passage of the Comprehensive Juvenile Justice Bill which will allow the trial of minors in accordance with their rights as children and not as adults.
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