Erwin Tulfo seeks 'total review' of PH Juvenile Law implementation

Senator Erwin Tulfo said Sunday that a panel he chairs will conduct a total review of the implementation of Republic Act 9344 or the “Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.”

Tulfo said the legislative inquiry of the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare, and Rural Development comes after a series of of alarming crimes involving minors that include the deadly school shooting in Tacloban and stabbing incidents in Cavite and Negros Occidental.

“I have repeatedly raised the alarm about the implementation of this law because in a practical sense, there are really glaring gaps in its implementation,” Tulfo said.

“Even before I became a public servant, I witnessed the harsh realities of this law on the ground. For years, helpless victims of minor-led crimes flooded our public service shows who feel completely helpless because of the Juvenile law implementation,” he added.

As a media personality, Tulfo said he was critical of law enforcement and that he cited the lack of funding for Bahay Pag-asa centers and even questioned the actual enforcement of the current age of criminal liability.

As Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Tulfo said he “witnessed firsthand the systemic failures of the law’s implementation.”

In his statement, Tulfo said he aims for his committee to “overhaul the broken system,” by focusing on “on the severe shortage of functional Bahay Pag-asa facilities, the effectiveness of intervention programs for Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL) and Children at Risk (CAR), and the enforcement of strict parental accountability, among other issues.”

The committee will be focusing on reviewing the lack of Bahay Pag-asa, how intervention programs are applied to the Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL) or Children at Risk (CAR), and how parental accountability are being enforced, the senator said.

The said panel will also review revisit the provisions of the law such as the age threshold for criminal liability.

“Is the age threshold on criminal liability still realistic given the signs of the times? Are parents of these CICLs being held accountable enough? Are the rehabilitation facilities even existing, let alone working?” the neophyte senator questioned. Tulfo clarified that his panel is set on fixing broken enforcement mechanisms to strike a balance between absolute justice for the victims and genuine rehabilitation for minors.

“This review will cover all bases. We are actively getting insights from law experts, law enforcement, social welfare groups, the church, medical professionals, and parents themselves. We need every perspective on the table because we are not just looking at the fine print of the law—we are fixing a broken reality on the ground,” Tulfo said. —RF, GMA News