Children in Philippine Jail
Lauren dragged me to watch a special viewing of Bunso (The Youngest) last saturday. Bunso is a poignant documentary film by Filmmakers Ditsi Carolino and Nana Buxani about three boys – Tony, 13, Diosel and Bunso, 11 – struggling to survive in a crowded Cebu jail alongside adult rapists and murderers. The two streetsmart boys paint us a picture into the surreal world of children caught between extreme poverty and the law.
These boys talked about their hunger and how they resorted to stealing just to survive. One boy stole from a sari-sari store because he could not bear the hunger pangs any longer. The owner did not press charges but the father wanted to teach his son a lesson by sending him to jail.
The boys are in prison for petty theft and robbery. Anthony claimed that he stole huge amounts of money to feed his family when his mother neglected his siblings. Bunso was on the streets because his mother did not “send him to school or care for him”. He resorted to begging for money at first, but when he couldn’t get any money, he stole. Then he started sniffing glue and needed more money to fund his addiction.
“I’d sniff first then eat,” he said in the film.