Increase in number of children in conflict with law seen

THE Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is anticipating an increase in the number of cases involving children in conflict with the law (CICL) with the lowering of the age of criminal liability from 15 to nine years old.

The House committee on justice approved on Monday, January 21, the bill that seeks to lower the age of criminal liability.

Janet Armas, DSWD–Cordillera director, said they still have to get the official stand of the department on the result of the hearing.

“At present, what the DSWD-CAR (Cordillera Administration Region) sees is an increase in the number of cases involving children in conflict with the law because of their awareness of the law. When the law was still not present in the past or when only few new about the law, the youth offenders have been brought back to their parents to take care of them and discipline them but because of RA 9344, the law gave the responsibility to the local government unit (LGU) to provide interventions aside from the family and the local protection for the welfare of the children,” Armas said.

The Juvenile Justice Welfare Act of 2006 or Republic Act (RA) 9344 covers different stages involving children at risk and children in conflict with the law from prevention to rehabilitation and reintegration.

The law, passed under the administration of then President and now House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, states under Section 6 that a child 15 years of age or under at the time of the commission of the offense will be exempt from criminal liability but subjected to an intervention program.

“For the situation in the Cordilleras, we have our Regional Rehabilitation Center for the Youth (RRYC) where children having court orders are sent for rehabilitation. On the question of do we have an increase in the number of children in conflict with the law, there are cases which seem to indicate an increase because in the past, these youth offenders were referred to Regions 1 and 2 but because we now have our own rehabilitation center in Sablan, we can now serve them from 50 to 60 at one time,” Armas said.

Most CICL cases recorded in the region are due to family problems and peer pressure.

“For parents who say government has to solve the problem on poverty, actually this cuts across because it is not only those children coming from poor families who are in conflict with the law. We also have cases of children coming from the more affluent who have been involved in crimes, so it is not right to say that these children involved in crimes come from poor families,” Armas added.

Armas said the agency has yet to see children used by some groups in committing crimes.

“Here in the Cordillera, we still have to record a case where groups use children for criminal activities unless there are reports coming from other agencies but in our interagency meetings conducted, there have been no such cases. And if there are, then we should focus on these groups to prevent them from abusing the children,” Armas added.

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