Mayor Lim favors punishment of juvenile offenders

MANILA, Philippines—Even Manila’s “Dirty Harry” agrees: Delinquents, no matter how young, should be brought to justice.

Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim has expressed support for moves in the Senate calling for the lowering of the age of criminal liability from 15 to 9 years old.

Lim noted that criminal syndicates, especially those dealing in drugs and robbery, were taking advantage of juvenile delinquency laws by using children to carry out their dirty work.

“There are a lot of teenagers and younger children involved in serious crimes and are being used by syndicates because cases would be weak if filed against them,” Lim said in Filipino, in a statement sent to the media.

Lim said that when minors are involved in serious crimes in his city, he has standing orders for them to be arrested and charged accordingly.

He is careful, however, not to mix them in detention with adult criminals.

Lim noted that releasing the juvenile delinquents without penalties whatsoever would only encourage them to become criminals when they grow up.

“There must be a second appraisal of how the laws should apply. Is it helpful or is it bad for society?” the mayor added.