Addressing Vulnerabilities 49 1. Basic needs of children in detention As earlier mentioned, the budgetary allocation for Police Stations in the five (5) police districts does not include food allowance for PDL in police lock-up cells. 222 Generally, detainees, including minors, have to rely on their families and friends for their food and other basic needs. On the other hand, at Caloocan City NPD-PS, North Extension Office, Barugo, it is the police officers/personnel who defray for the food of detainees as they include the detainees in their personal expenses for meals. This is a humanitarian act that may be considered good practice and is commendable to some extent. But to burden the station’s employees of somebody else’s duty is an injustice inasmuch that it is a tolerance of neglect. The State acting through its government should take care of the welfare of its citizens especially those who cannot provide for themselves. Detainees, especially minors, are not yet convicts. They should be treated in accordance with their unconvicted status. 223 Precisely, detainees are kept separate from imprisoned persons. If the State can provide for convicted prisoners in the National Penitentiaries and BJMP, all the more that it should provide for those in temporary detention facilities. 2. Analysis of the data on lock-up cells in relation to children in detention The maintenance and operation of the seven (7) lock-up cells for juvenile persons or children in conflict with the law (CICL) inside police stations and lock-up cells for adult detainees, including three which are allegedly under the direct supervision of the City Social Worker Development Officer (CSWDO), is not appropriate environment to serve the best interest and development of children. 224 The situation of children in detention in the NCR police lock-up cells shows that they are treated no differently from adult detainees. As mentioned earlier, some of them are detained together with adults, 225 which is 222 One of the exception is the Paranaque Police Station which receives allocation for food allowance from the City Government for the first fifty (50) detainees only. 223 Principle 8, Body of Principles. 224 Geneva Declaration of the Rights of the Child of 20 November 1959; Principles 2 & 8; Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC) Article 3, Article 23.2, 23.3; Article 31.1, 37.c, Article 40; Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) Article 1, Article 11, Article 22, Article 23; Articles 22, 24; International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Articles 2, 9, 10 & 13; R.A. 9344, Section 2(b). 225 MPD-Ermita Police Station; MPD-Sta. Police Station; NPD-Navotas Police Station; SPD-Taguig City Police Station; SPD-Pasay City Police Station (SOU, SAID).