Bahay Pag-asa is the university’s response to the call to provide hope for children in conflict with the law. It is a transformative facility established by De La Salle University-Dasmariñas and  De La Salle Health Sciences Institute in partnership with PLDT Smart Foundation.

It aims to administer a holistic formation program for children in conflict with the law, provide competent and committed legal assistance, and implement a post-release program.

Bahay Pag-asa, directly under the supervision of DLSU-D’s College of Law Enforcement, Administration and Public Safety, will commence its operation very soon.

Project Background

St. John Baptist de La Salle founded the first Lasallian school in the 17th century in response to the needs of young people in difficult circumstances.  Today, the needs of the youth continue to exist in a different context. Therefore, Lasallians and persons of goodwill are challenged to respond in the spirit of dual fidelity – a fidelity to the spirit and mission of the Founder and a fidelity to the demands of this moment in history.

The entire Lasallian school community and friends become the agents of evangelization.  Since God’s saving embraces ALL people, this calls for a preferential option for the marginalized; thus we stand by that commitment today by making service to the poor an effective priority in all our educational projects.

Reading the Signs of the Times (The Philippine Situation)

The United Nations Development Program 1998 report on poverty cited the Philippines as the only South Asian country where the incidence of poverty has not reduced in the last 20 years. Despite some economic gains, little has changed in the distribution of wealth and resources in the Philippines since the Martial Law years.

Those Who Need Our Attention

The Second Plenary Council of the Catholic Church listed the following sectors as needing the special attention –urban and rural poors, laborers, farmers and landless workers, fisherfolks, indigenous people, street children, prisoners, victims of natural disasters, the elderly, the handicapped, and other marginalized groups.

Our Lasallian Priority: Help the Youth-at-Risk

Philippine society is plagued by problems resulting from the poverty situation, and these include delinquency and criminality among the environments, vulnerability to peer pressure, substance abuse, and rebellion against societal and parental norms.

Children in Conflict with the Law

Due to insufficient resources, the Philippine judicial corrections system cannot provide a responsive program and adequate facilities to accommodate youth in conflict with the law whose sentences are suspended because they are minors (15-17 years old).  In several provinces in the Philippines, these youth-at-risk, mostly male, are housed in same or separate quarters in jails for adult male prisoners, and are not placed under a structured formative or interventive programs.  The environment that was intended to offer protective shelter has, in fact, exposed these minors to further injury, offering nothing than punitive judicial intervention.

Our Response: Hope for Children in Conflict with the Law

Bahay Pag-asa-Dasmariñas is a transformative facility in cooperation with the PLDT Smart Foundation situated in a 27-hectare campus of DLSU-Dasmariñas.    It has the following objectives:

• Administer a holistic formation program for children in conflict with the law
• Provide competent and committed legal assistance, and
• Implement a post-release program