Rise in Crime Rate

The Philippines has a serious crime problem. Nowadays, there isn?t a single day when crime hasn?t occurred. Most of them vary from petty snatching to the serious incidents like kidnapping and murder. Despite their gravity and offense, they?re crimes nonetheless.

In such situations, these newly demoralized poor people seek newer and desperate ways of earning money. This is when small-time crimes are born. This is illustrated in the rough statistics of the Quezon City Jail; where there are as much as 900 people have been accused of poverty-related crimes such as robbery, theft and shoplifting. This is approximately 60% of the jail's current population. Most of these crimes are bail bondable (average bail is priced at Php 16,000 or $ 285.00), but since most of these people come from the lower end of society, such price is just too astronomical for temporary freedom.

These people don't just commit these crimes because they want to, but because they have to. It's their last resort for survival.

Children in jails have become another sad problem. The children are being jailed with the crowed adult population because there is no place to put them.

A recent estimate predicts that 20,000 children are held behind bars for petty crimes such as petty theft, sniffing glue (rugby), and soliciting because they homelessness. These children are caged in over crowed cells with adult prisoners who are often found abusing these children. The living conditions in these intuitions are horrible and extreme. We are thankful to PREDA (www.preda.org) along with other organizations that are working towards correcting the child abuse problems in the Philippines.

It?s a sad note played for third world countries where the bulk of their crime rates are plagued with small-time thievery. Incidents like these perhaps come from desperate people ? poor desperate people: poor people, who try to make the best out of their lives, but only wallow deeper in the slums of poverty. For them, seeking an honest living is an exhausted reason for self-sustenance. They?re forced into a crooked life to make ends meet and have food on their plates, even for just a day or two.

Most of them aren?t really corrupt in nature. As a matter of fact, almost all want to live normal decent lives, find decent jobs and earn money honestly. Unfortunately, they are forced to rob because of financial circumstances and marginalized opportunities. As much as it is not in their nature to steal, it?s a different story altogether when the pain of hunger or the vulnerability of homelessness plagues one?s life. Morals are then ignored to make survival possible. The poor resort to uncanny means of making a living. Please help us reach some of these children before they have to resort to crime, Please have compassion by donating to our cause.