Cebu City’s streets are “home” to these children and their families. —JUNJIE MENDOZA/CEBU DAILY NEWS FILE PHOTO
The chairperson of the House of Representatives committee on welfare of children on Monday said she was in favor of lowering the minimum age of criminal liability to 12 years old to hold children being used by drug syndicates accountable.
In the “Ugnayan sa Batasan” press briefing, Zamboanga Del Sur Rep. Divina Grace Yu said she was in favor of seeking to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 15 years old to 12.
This despite a March Pulse Asia survey showing that 55 percent of Filipino respondents would prefer to keep the minimum age of criminal responsibility at 15, as set by the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.
READ: A lot of work needed on ‘criminal age’ issue
Meanwhile, only 20 percent of Filipinos favored lowering the minimum age of criminal liability to 12 years and only 9 percent said it should be 9 years old.
The bill pending in Congress seeking to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility to nine is part of the legislative agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte, who lamented that children used by syndicates are just released to their parents.
READ: Duterte stand on lowering age of criminal liability ‘remains unchanged’ | Duterte: Pangilinan’s law produced criminal minds
Yu said this is her personal view, not the committee on welfare of children as a whole.
“Personally, I am in favor of lowering the age of criminal responsibility but as I’ve said it’s not my personal vote or view (that) would matter. It’s with the committee on welfare of children,” Yu said.
READ: DSWD, CHR oppose lowering age of criminal liability
She said she would voice out the vote of the committee if majority of the members would go against the controversial bill.
“If the majority of the committee on welfare and children would say that this bill is detrimental to the welfare of children then I would bring the voice of the majority of the committee not to favor the said bill,” Yu said.
The bill seeking to lower the minimum age of criminal liability is pending before the House committee on justice.
READ: UNICEF: Lowering criminal liability age harms kids’ well-being
Yu said she just might reconsider her position if she would be convinced by the justice committee to further lower the minimum age of criminal liability to nine years old.
“I am open to discussion later in the committee on justice. If they would be able to convince me that it would be able to benefit the welfare of the children then I might vote for lowering it to nine years old. But if they won’t be able to convince me then I would stand on my view of lowering the criminal age of responsibility to 12 years old,” Yu said.
READ: PH psychological association opposes lowering criminal liability age
For his part, Anac-IP Rep. Jose Panganiban Jr. said it should be the parents who should be held accountable for the actions of their children involved in criminal syndicates.
“Personally, instead of lowering the age of criminal liability, mas bigatan natin yung parusa ng magulang at sino gumamit sa mga bata,” Panganiban, chairperson of the agriculture and food committee, said.
(Personally, instead of lowering the age of criminal liability, let’s put a heavier penalty on the parents and those who used the children.)
READ: ‘Lowering criminal liability age leads youth to negative path’
“Dapat yung parusa, nasa magulang. Isama sila sa kulungan,” he added.
(The punishment should be on the parents. They should be the ones in prison.)
The House leadership through Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez has supported the bill which has the blessing of President Rodrigo Duterte, who won on a campaign to stamp out criminality and the illegal drug trade.
READ: Alvarez seeks to lower age for minor offenders
In House Bill 2, 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.
READ: ‘Lowering criminal liability age leads youth to negative path’
The authors said children were 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.
Alvarez then said death penalty would be too harsh a punishment of children whom he believed are not capable of heinous crimes, such as murder, rape or plunder. CBB/rga
READ: Alvarez: No minors to be punished with death penalty