More senators oppose lowering age of criminal liability to 9 years old

As the Senate starts discussion on the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility, more senators opposed the proposal at the House of Representatives making it nine years old.

Senator Aquilino Pimentel III, president of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban), said the proposal should be studied carefully.

“Pag-isipan and pag-usapan (nang) mabuting mabuti at ‘wag madaliin,” he said.

Senator Panfilo Lacson said the age of nine is "too young" for criminal liability.

In a post on his Twitter account, Lacson said he would "support lowering the age of criminal liability to a certain level," provided that:

• The youth offender is proven to have acted with discernment when he or she committed the crime, especially serious ones;
• Sentencing is suspended until the offender reaches the age of majority; and
• There are enough and properly supervised reformative facilities to rehabilitate the youth offenders.

Lacson, who served as Philippine National Police chief from 1999 to 2001, said his support for the lowering of the age of criminal liability "to a certain level" will depend on "science-based testimonies of experts in the field of child psychology."

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV said he will oppose the proposal which he described as anti-family, anti-poor and simply unjust.

“It will promote a heartless and ruthless society that has no regard for its own people,” he said.

The senator said as somebody who has been imprisoned, he knows that such a harsh environment will severely traumatize the children and would lead them further to a life of crime once they have served their sentence.

“Kahit na ihiwalay pa sila ng selda,” he added.

Trillanes said children below 15 years old have yet to fully mature psychologically and emotionally enough to be able to fully discern what’s right from wrong or to totally grasp the consequences of their actions.

“Those kids must be able to recover from those early mistakes in life through rehabilitation and counselling,” he said.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said lowering down the age of criminal responsibility to nine years old is not the most effective solution to curb criminality in our communities.

He said the focus should be on rehabilitating child offenders through more constructive and nurturing means than outright imprisonment.

“Children belong in schools, not in jails. Kung ang dahilan sa kagustuhang ibaba ang minimum age of criminal responsibility ay ang pagdami ng mga batang nagiging kriminal dahil sa ilegal na droga, then we need to strengthen our juvenile justice system through stricter implementation of existing laws that prosecute adults who coerce children to engage in criminal behavior,” he said.

He also pushed for the full implementation of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 to protect and rehabilitate children in conflict with the law through restorative, not punitive, means.

Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said nine years old seems too young to impose criminal liability.

“Hopefully we can help our policemen and law enforcers fight criminality and the syndicated  but not by putting nine year olds in jail. Nine year olds do not belong in jail,” he said.

He said if children are sentenced for committing a crime then there must be some intervention for them whether in a juvenile center or bahay pangarap but not in a regular jail where the chances for reform are slim.

“Under the old law their sentence was suspended until they reach the age of majority,” he said.

The Senate committee on justice and human rights, chaired by Senator Richard Gordon, will hear Tuesday morning the proposed lowering of age of criminal liability.

Invited as resource persons are the Department of Justice, National Police Commission, National Youth Commission, Department of Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police, Bureau of Corrections, Commission on Human Rights, Ateneo Human Rights Center, University of the Philippines-College of Law, and Juvenile Justice and Welfare Center. — RSJ, GMA News