Duterte calls Pangilinan ‘dumbest’ lawyer over Juvenile Justice Law

President Rodrigo Duterte has called Sen. Francis Pangilinan "the dumbest lawyer" for passing a law that raised the age of criminal responsibility to 15, saying the measure has turned the country's law and order upside down.

Duterte said Pangilinan's amendments to the Juvenile Justice System and Welfare Act has emboldened young people to commit crimes.

"Wala ka talaga. Ikaw 'yung abogado nalaman kong pinakabobo sa lahat (You're nothing. You are the dumbest lawyer)... I'm not trying to destroy him. But...in two minutes, I will destroy him. Just listen," the president said during a biodiversity event last Saturday in Palawan.

"All of you are living witnesses. (Because of) the changing of (the age of criminal liability), our law and order turned upside down. To the policemen here, when did the situation deteriorate? When he, who was that son of a b **** ? When he passed the juvenile law and raised (the age of criminal liability)," he added.

Under the law, a child who is 15 years old or below at the time of the commission of the crime shall have no criminal liability. The offender will instead undergo an intervention program crafted by the government.

Critics claimed that illegal drug syndicates are taking advantage of the system by using children as couriers. Child's rights advocates, however, are against the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility, saying children in conflict of the law are also victims.

Duterte said that parents of youth offenders only need to present birth certificates to secure the freedom of their children.

"They have been in and out of prison all throughout of the country. Those who committed crimes, rape with homicide, it doesn't matter... They would even say 'we will repeat that to your child.' That's how brazen children are nowadays," the president said.

Duterte said minors who violated the law are brought to centers operated by the social welfare department but some of them escape "only to commit another crime in another day."

"That's the problem. Many thousands become victims but nothing can be done because cases cannot be filed," he said.

"You cannot detain a child whatever the crime may be. It could even be genocide. They won't be responsible."—Philstar