Age of criminal responsibility

We are enraged by Sen. Vicente Sotto III’s plan to lower the age of criminal responsibility of children to 13. The move penalizes children instead of creating programs and policies that uphold their rights and dignity.

We affirm our stand on the pressing issue of Children in Conflict with the Law (CICL), that they be treated as victims of state abandonment and neglect. We are firm in our stand that lowering the age of criminal responsibility is not the answer to the problem like killing drug users is not the answer to the drug problem in the country.

Based on the CICL profiling of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), child offenders from low-earning families have stopped schooling and lack economic opportunities.

Had the government created decent jobs and other economic opportunities for poor families and made basic social services accessible to poor children and their families, they will not resort to being drug peddlers or couriers.

Barely two percent of all crimes reported to the Philippine National Police (PNP) from 2006 to 2012 were crimes committed by children.

Even if Senator Sotto said that unless proven that a child did the crime without discernment he/ she will be exempted from criminal liability, there are a number of studies proving that developmental factors come to play on why children get involved in criminal or anti-social activities.

Government, including lawmakers, should prioritize provision of services, more so on implementing RA 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act.

They should focus their time and our nation’s resources on meeting the basic demands of the Filipino people like lowering prices of commodities.--Eule Rico Bonganay, secretary general, Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns