BJMP told to continue managing city’s juvenile correctional facility
The agreement to stop the operations of Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP)-7 at the Cebu City's Operation Second Chance Center (CCOSCC) in Barangay Kalunasan was stalled in the City Council.
This, as City Councilor Raymond Alvin Garcia wanted to scrutinize the memorandum of agreement which was signed in the previous years.
Garcia, chairman of the council committee on laws, styling, and ordinances, said the city should study the disengagement of the BJMP from the correctional facility if it is not disadvantageous to the city.
"We need to study it. The basis for the disengagement is the contract of engagement, a MOA (Memorandum of Agreement), or whatever it is called, which was signed years ago," he said.
City Councilor Sisinio Andales yielded to defer the approval of the disengagement for a week.
Andales said he will look for a copy of the MOA or any agreement signed before.
Once the agreement will be approved and signed by City Mayor Tomas Osmeña and BJMP-7 Director Dennis Rocamora, the BJMP will withdraw all its personnel, and thereby allowing the city government to hire personnel for the management of the correctional facility.
Cebu City's Operation Second Chance is a correctional facility for Children in Conflict with the Law.
On July 31, 2002, BJMP signed a MOA with the city government for the operation of the said correctional facility.
Under the proposed disengagement, the BJMP emphasized that its participation in the operation of the CCOSCC was just temporary.
It is also stated that the city government has trained personnel to take over the positions of the BJMP personnel.
BJMP stated that the operation and management of a correctional facility rest primarily with the local government, under Republic Act 9344 or the Comprehensive Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act.
"It has been observed also that the participation of the BJMP in the management of the CCOSCC and many of the responsibilities it had undertaken in the said MOA are inconsistent with the provisions of the juvenile welfare laws as above cited," the proposed disengagement reads.
The City Legal Office has already rendered a legal opinion favoring the disengagement of BJMP from the operations of the CCOSCC.
Last month, City Councilor Margarita Osmeña, deputy mayor on social services of the city, said the BJMP helped in the training of at least 20 employees of the OSC which is comprised of escorts, security, and house parents.
In 2014, BJMP informed the city government that it will withdraw all its personnel from the OSC, saying that the move is allegedly in violation of the Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act.
Osmeña said the city government can refuse to house minor offenders from outside the city once the City government will take over the operations.