Editorials
Wednesday, December 24, 1997THE second shocking case of child abuse in four months has emphasized the need for changes in government policies on intervening to assure children's safety. A policy that seems to have given a higher priority to family reunification than to the child's safety has produced tragic results. Child-abuse tragedies
must not be repeatedFour-year-old Reubyne Buentipo Jr. may live in a vegetative state for the rest of his life because of severe injuries allegedly caused by his mother, Kimberly Pada, who faces charges of attempted murder. The boy had been treated for injuries repeatedly over a two-year period, and a team of professionals had recommended he be taken away from Pada permanently.
Incredibly, a Family Court judge who ordered that Reubyne remain with his mother was not informed of the recommendation. In August, a month after the judge made his ruling, which followed advice given by social workers and the boy's court-appointed attorney, Reubyne lay in a coma.
Cedra Edwards, 20 months old, was fatally injured last week. Her teen-aged mother, Jennifer Chanel Edwards, is charged with murder. Jennifer Edwards' mother says she repeatedly warned the state's Child Protective Services that Cedra was at risk, but the child was returned to her mother in August after a lengthy absence prompted by concerns of neglect.
Participants in a legislative round-table last month suggested a number of policy changes. The most important as they pertain to the cases of Reubyne Buentipo and Cedra Edwards were that child safety be elevated in priority over family reunification, and that judges be informed of all reports before making decisions about a child's status.
State Human Services Director Susan Chandler insists that abused children never are reunified with their families at the expense of their safety. While that may have been the intent, it has not been the reality, perhaps because of errors resulting from understaffing caused by budget restraints.
This is an area in which attempts to save money can result in tragedies. Legislators should ensure that sufficient funds are provided for Child Protective Services. They should also approve rules to ensure that children are not returned to abusive parents when reasonable doubt exists regarding their safety.
THE turmoil that has gripped several East Asian economies has inflicted less damage on the Philippines. Thanks in part to years of an austere fiscal policy required by the International Monetary Fund, the Philippines was less vulnerable than its neighbors to the downturn. While other countries are seeking bailouts from the IMF, the Philippines is preparing to emerge from decades of IMF controls. Philippine president
Much of the credit for this belongs to President Fidel Ramos, who is preparing to step down next year after six years in office. After months of speculation that Ramos would try to amend the constitution to permit him to seek a second term, Filipinos have given up on that idea and turned their attention to the race to succeed him next year.
Ramos has endorsed the speaker of the House of Representatives, Jose de Venecia, for president. But the front-runner is Joseph Estrada, who has served as vice president under Ramos but who owes much of his following to an earlier career in the movies. Estrada has just won the nomination of the largest opposition party. He consistently tops opinion surveys of potential presidential candidates.
Estrada's common-man image has strong popular appeal, but many business executives question his ability and desire to continue Ramos' policies. There may be as many as a dozen candidates in the race and the battle is far from decided. But at this point the question is whether anybody can stop Estrada.
TERRY Nichols' conviction of charges less than murder in connection with the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing is a disappointment for federal prosecutors but an understandable response to evidence presented in the case. Nichols' absence from the scene of the bombing and doubts about whether he was actively involved in the explosion at the time it occurred resulted in his mixed bag of convictions and probably will save him from execution. Terry Nichols verdict
Unlike co-conspirator Timothy McVeigh, Nichols was not seen fleeing from the bomb site carrying a pistol and wearing clothes speckled with residue from the blast. When McVeigh was arrested soon after the bombing, he still wore earplugs that protected his hearing from a huge blast that shredded 168 innocent men, women and children in the federal building.
Not so Terry Nichols, who voluntarily turned himself in at a Kansas police station more than 200 miles away from Oklahoma City two days after the bombing, giving the FBI information that could be used against McVeigh and even against himself. He did not set off the bomb, and his attorneys raised doubts about whether he was involved in assembling it. However, fertilizer receipts, phone records and Ryder truck sightings bolstered prosecution contentions that Nichols helped McVeigh deliver a getaway car to Oklahoma City prior to the bombing and worked with him to pack the bomb in the rental truck the day before.
While McVeigh was convicted of first-degree murder for the deaths of the eight federal agents who died in the blast, Nichols was found guilty of the lesser offense of involuntary manslaughter for those deaths. The federal jury in Denver did convict Nichols of conspiring with McVeigh, but apparently as a junior partner in the scheme and perhaps, in the end, as an unwitting participant. The conspiracy conviction carries a possible death sentence, but such an execution order would be unprecedented in any offense other than first-degree murder.
Nichols' legal ordeal is far from over. The Oklahoma County district attorney has promised to file 160 charges of murder against both him and McVeigh. The penalty to be determined by the Denver jury is not likely to be his final punishment.
Rupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
