A representative of the women’s sector in Congress called lawmakers bent on passing the bill lowering the minimum age of criminal liability as “King Herods,” a Biblical reference to the king who led a massacre of infants in the hunt for Jesus Christ.
During the hearing of the justice subcommittee on correctional reforms at the House of Representatives, Gabriela Rep. Arlene Brosas said the committee is acting like King Herod in putting the bill to a vote so that it may be forwarded to the plenary for period of sponsorship, debate and amendment.
READ: DSWD, CHR oppose lowering age of criminal liability
Brosas scored the committee for not listening to psychologists and experts who explained to the committee that children as young as nine years old do not have yet full discretion on what is morally right or wrong.
By putting the bill treating children as criminals to a vote, the committee seems to be acting like King Herod, who in the Nativity story launched a grisly massacre of infants to stop the birth of the King of the Jews Jesus Christ, Brosas said.
READ: UNICEF: Lowering criminal liability age harms kids’ well-being
“Sa pagiging bingi sa mga naging pahayag ng mga eksperto at bulag sa kalagayan ng malawakang kahirapang kinasasadlakan ng mga batang Pilipino, ang komiteng ito ay mistulang mga Herodes na handang ihatid sa kanilang kamatayan ang mga pag-asa ng bayan,” Brosas said.
(While being deaf to the statements of experts and blind to the conditions of abject poverty that affect children, this committee seems to be acting as King Herods ready to send to their deaths the hope of the nation.)
READ: PH psychological association opposes lowering criminal liability age
Brosas’ reference did not sit well with other members of the committee.
Kabayan Rep. Ron Salo moved to strike off the record Brosas’ comparison of the committee to the tyrant.
Brosas later took back her word and admitted that it was a statement brought about by her emotions about the proposed legislation.
“It’s a personal term, it’s out of emotion,” Brosas said.
READ: ‘Lowering criminal liability age leads youth to negative path’
But Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Zarate backed Brosas in her Herod statement, saying that children as young as nine years old should not be branded as criminals and put in detention with hardened criminals.
“Hindi sa kagalingan ng mga bata na sa halip ay ang tingin sa kanila ay biktima, ang tingin sa kaniya ay magiging kriminal na ilalagak sa mga kulungan. They will be branded as such by society,” Zarate said.
(It is not for the welfare of the children if they are treated as criminals to be put behind bars, and not victims.)
While the death penalty bill has hurdled the committee level and is up for second reading sponsorship and debate, the bill lowering the minimum age of criminal liability is pending before the House justice subcommittee on correctional reforms.
The subcommittee set the bill to a vote next week Tuesday, Feb. 28. It will then be forwarded to the mother justice committee for its final approval, before being forwarded to the plenary for second reading debates and amendment.
READ: Alvarez seeks to lower age for minor offenders
In House Bill 2, authors Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Deputy Speaker Fredenil Castro sought to revert the minimum age of criminal liability from the current 15 years old to as young as nine years old.
The House leaders’ bill entitled “Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility Act” seeks to amend the “Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006” or Republic Act 9344, which set the minimum age for criminal liability at 15 years old.
The authors said children are being used by criminals as accomplices in their crimes, particularly drug trafficking, because these minors could not be held criminally liable.
In a July 2016 interview, Alvarez had said that his bill would seek to put minors in detention to rehabilitate them, but not to punish them with death.
READ: Alvarez: No minors to be punished with death penalty
Alvarez then said death penalty would be too harsh a punishment to children whom he believed are not capable of heinous crimes, such as murder, rape or plunder. JE