MANILA, Philippines?Sen. Richard Gordon promised to review the Youth Offenders? Law if he becomes president, noting that criminals use children as their legmen to evade prosecution.

?The law was a mistake. I voted for it and I regret it,? Gordon said at the Inquirer-sponsored presidential forum at the UP Theater on Monday.

?The law has good intentions but adults were behind these minors,? he said in Filipino.

Gordon said that as part of his legislative agenda if he became president, he would also urge Congress to ?teach young people more accountability? and not just separate them from adult criminals once a review of the law was made.

?We need to plug the loopholes,? he added.

During the forum, panelist Fr. Joaquin Bernas, a constitutional expert, asked Gordon what meaning he would give the word ?rebellion.?

Bernas premised his question on President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo?s declaration of martial law in Maguindanao province last year, citing rebellion, following the massacre of 57 people by alleged supporters of the Ampatuan clan.

?Rebellion does not exist in Mindanao,? said Gordon, a graduate of the UP law school. ?As far as I?m concerned, rebellion is an uprising to unseat the government. There was no such effort but there was an effort to hide the killings.?

Bernas repeated his question, and Gordon said ?the proper crime was murder.? He said the rebellion charge was just ?a cop-out, an attempt to ? protect them (the Ampatuans) from the more serious offense of [57] murder cases individually.?

Bernas said the senator still had not answered his question, and asked his question a third time. Gordon said: ?There is no rebellion, no public uprising. The government still exists ??