(j) Take the child immediately to the proper medical and health officer for a thorough physical and mental examination. The examination results shall be kept confidential unless otherwise ordered by the Family Court. Whenever the medical treatment is required, steps shall be immediately undertaken to provide the same; (k) Ensure that should detention of the child in conflict with the law be necessary, the child shall be secured in quarters separate from that of the opposite sex and adult offenders; (l) Record the following in the initial investigation:
1. Whether handcuffs or other instruments of restraint were used, and if so, the reason for such; 2. That the parents or guardian of a child, the DSWD, and the PA0 have been informed of the apprehension and the details thereof; and 3. The exhaustion of measures to determine the age of a child and the precise details of the physical and medical examination or the failure to submit a child to such examination; and (m) Ensure that all statements signed by the child during investigation shall be witnessed by the child's parents or guardian, social worker, or legal counsel in attendance who shall affix his/her signature to the said statement. A child in conflict with the law shall only be searched by a law enforcement officer of the same gender and shall not be locked up in a detention cell.”
SECTION 7. Penalties and Manner of Dealing with the Violator.
| a. | The penalty for parent/guardian of the minor who violates this ordinance shall be: | |
| i. | For the First Offense – a minor found violating this ordinance for the first time will be referred to the nearest barangay hall or police station.
The Barangay Council for the Protection of Children or the PNP’s Children’s Desk shall conduct the counselling before the minor will be properly turned over to his/her parent/s or guardian/s. The parent/s or guardian/s of the minor in violation of this ordinance shall be summoned to fetch the minor from the barangay hall or police station. The parent/s or guardian/s of the minor who violated this ordinance for the first time shall be penalized with a fine of Five Hundred Pesos (₱500.00). That after due notice, non-compliance with the prescribed penalty within thirty (30) days warrants the filing of the case against the parent/s or guardian/s of the minor who violated this ordinance to the proper court and shall be punish by a fine of One Thousand Five Hundred Pesos (₱1,500.00) or imprisonment of not more than twenty days (20), or both at the discretion of the court. | |
| ii. | For the Second Offense – a minor found violating this ordinance for the second time will be required to attend, together with his/her parent/s or guardian/s, two (2) consecutive regular sessions of the Barangay for the Protection of Children, for counselling, which shall include this matter as part of its session’s agenda, provided that the BCPC Chairperson shall certify | |
