DAVAO City Councilor Avegayle Ortiz-Omalza, chairperson on the committees on women and children and family relations, together with children's rights advocates in the city, slammed the passage of the House bill lowering the age of criminal liability.
The House committee on justice approved on Monday, January 21, the bill that lowers the age of criminal responsibility to nine years old from the current 15 years old.
In an interview with Sunstar Davao Tuesday, January 22, Ortiz-Omalza said the government already has a Juvenile Justice System and Welfare Act where it was stated that if the child is below 15 years old, there will be programs to be implemented by the local government unit.
“Daghan man gud og mga factors nganong nakabuhat sila og mga ingon ana (There are a lot of factors why children commit crimes),” she said.
She added that lowering the age would not address issues related to an increase in the number of children in conflict with the law (CICLs).
She said that how parents raise their children and the core values of the family, being the basic unit of society, must also be considered.
Talikala executive director Jeanette Laurel-Ampog, in a phone interview Tuesday, expressed her dismay over the bill’s approval.
Five other non-government agencies in the city which advocates for the rights of children, namely, Child Alert Mindanao, Inc., Kaugmaon center for children's concerns Foundation, Alay Mindanao, Lawig Bubai, and Adolescent Health Advocates, were also disappointed.
She said that the government should have focused on fully implementing the Juvenile Justice System and Welfare Act rather than passing the said bill.
“Dako gyud mi og pagbabag anang lowering the age of criminal liability kay in the first place, naa naman balaod ana. Unsa ang basis? (We strongly condemn the passage of the bill because we already have a law on that. What is the basis?),” Laurel-Ampog said.
Only three of 10 crimes, or 30 percent, in the country are committed by children.
“Between children and adults, majority pa rin ang adult offenders,” she said, adding that children should be treated as children and that the government should have made a move to strengthen its interventions.
“If their basis were the cases where children are being used in syndicate and illegal activities, why not chase these syndicates? Nganong ang bata man permi ang pakasad-on nga sala mana sa naggamit sa ilaha? (Why is it always the fault of these children when they are only being used by adult offenders?),” she said.