WHILE some child advocates oppose the proposed bill lowering the age of criminal liability from 15 years old to 12, Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio expressed support by saying that children in conflict with the law (CICL) should be put inside age appropriate jail.
In an Instagram post on Friday, January 25, Duterte-Carpio said that children are capable of committing crimes and that there is no excuse for underage criminal to fester.
“Huwag po sana kayo mag pretend na anghel ang mga bata. Wala po tayo sa langit. (Do not pretend that children are angels. We are not in heaven.) We have documented cases of 12 to 14-year-old children committing rape, murder, theft, robbery, drug smuggling, drug peddling, even arson,” she said.
“If you do not want them in jail with adults, put them in your CICL age appropriate jail,” she added.
Duterte-Carpio, who was commenting to one of the critics of the proposed bill, also said that they should not compare the Philippines to other developed countries as the culture, psyche and the circumstances are not the same.
“The issues may be a complicated web of poverty, illiteracy, broken families, (and) abuse. But all these are no excuse to spare the rod and let the problem of underage criminals fester,” she said.
Last Friday, January 25, different groups of child advocates conducted a silent protest at the City Hall to express their dismay over the passage of the proposed bill in second reading.
Talikala executive director Jeanette Laurel-Ampog, in an interview with SunStar Davao, said that instead of lowering the age of criminal responsibility, the government should focus on fully implementing the Juvenile Justice System and Welfare Act, programs and interventions to address the root cause of the problem.
“Nakita namo nga ang at stake diri ang mga bata, ang at stake sa congress is political survival (We have seen that what's at stake here is the welfare of the children and it is the political survival for the congresa),” Ampog said, adding that they will continue to push for the rights of the vulnerable sector in the society.
Meanwhile, committee on human rights chair Councilor Antoinette Principe during the Davao media forum yesterday, said that there is already a neccesity for the proposed bill due to the increasing CICL cases in the country.
“Akong stand is to make it as much as possible na dili siya punitive ang atong balaod but restorative (I just want it that as much as possible, the law should be restorative instead of punitive),” she said.