Debates expected as Senate bill lowering age of criminal responsibility reaches plenary

Senator Richard Gordon presented to the Senate plenary Monday the committee report lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12 years old from the present 15.

Committee report 622, which contains Senate Bill 2198, was signed by 11 senators —some of whom expressed readiness to interpellate and  introduce amendments. 

Gordon, chairman of the Senate committee on justice and human rights, said the proposed measure aims to prepare the children to be hardworking, accountable, and responsible.

“It takes village to raise a child, let us put our money where our mouth is,” he said

Under the bill, a child above 12 but below 18 shall be exempted from liability and will be subjected to an intervention program unless the child has acted with discernment, in which case, such child shall be subjected to the appropriate proceedings, the report added.

A child is deemed to be 12 years of age on the day of the 12th anniversary of the child’s birth date.

The report states that “a child below 12 years of age at the time of the commission of the offense shall be exempt from liability. However, the child shall be subjected to an intervention program pursuant to this Act.”

It also states children above 12 years but below 18 years old who committed serious crimes will be placed in a Juvenile Reformatory Center.

Considered as serious crimes  are parricide, murder, infanticide, kidnapping and serious illegal detention where the victim is killed or raped, robbery with homicide or rape, destructive arson, rape, carnapping where the driver or occupant is killed or raped, or offenses under Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act punishable by more than 12 years of imprisonment.

Under the bill, adults, including parents, who exploit children into committing crimes face up to 40 years in prison if the Senate version of the bill proposing to lower the age of criminal liability to 12 is enacted. 

“Any person, including the parent of a child, who, in the commission of a crime, makes use, takes advantage of, or profits from the use of children, including any person who abuses his/her authority over the child or who, with abuse of confidence, takes advantage of the vulnerabilities of the child and shall induce, threaten, or instigate the commission of the crime, shall be imposed the penalty of reclusion perpetua, if the crime committed is punishable by imprisonment of more than six years, and reclusion temporal, if the crime committed is punishable by imprisonment of six years or less,” it stated.

“The fact that the person who exploited the child for the commission of crimes shall be considered as a generic aggravating circumstance,” it added.

The bill also stated that parents whose children, aged 12 years old but below 18 years, committed serious crimes “shall suffer the penalty of prision correccional in its minimum period to prision correccional in its maximum period,” or a minimum of six months and one day to a maximum of six years imprisonment.

The bill further proposed the parents shall be primarily liable for civil damages arising our of the actions of the child in conflict with the law unless they prove, to the satisfaction of the court,  that they were exercising reasonable supervision over the child at the time the child committed the offense and exerted reasonable effort and utmost diligence to prevent or discourage the crime.

'Repudiated by evidence'

Senator Risa Hontiveros, staunch opponent of the proposal, registered her dissenting vote to the committee report.

“I cannot, in my conscience, lend my name to a measure that is repudiated by evidence, is not necessary given that the present law has not been exhaustively implemented  and most importantly exposes already vulnerable children to further vulnerability,” she said.

She said the Senate should not penalize the children for the country’s collective national failure to create the conditions for them to develop and thrive and be the best that they can be.

“Makinig po tayo sa sambayanan. Ipagtanggol at tindigan natin ang batang Filipino, kahit ang mga mahirap mahalin  dahil sila ang mas kailangan ng paggabay, pagwawasto, at pagmamahal,” she said.

Senator Francis Pangilinan said the committee report was not routed to the members of the minority—and that if it was, they would have signed it in dissent.

“The committee report was not routed to us. I understand because all you have is to get a majority signature. But if it was routed to us, we would have signed in dissent,” she said. —LDF/BM, GMA News