THE Philippine National Police (PNP) has expressed support for lowering the age of criminal responsibility following a series of crimes involving minors.
In a press conference on Friday, August 22, 2025, PNP Chief General Nicolas Torre III said the agency supports the lowering of the age of discernment, provided it is backed by “scientific evidence.”
“May mga studies tayong dapat i-consider kung ‘yung current na age limits ay applicable pa ba or baka naman ang kamalayan ng mga bata ay naging masyadong mataas na dahil nga sa access nila sa information,” said Torre.
(We have studies that we need to consider to determine if the current age limits are still applicable, or if children’s awareness has already become too advanced because of their access to information.)
“So while we support the lowering of the age, there is still mga scientific studies na dapat pa natin i-consider and we leave it to our legislators kung ano ang magiging kanilang final decision regarding that matter,” he added.
The top cop said the PNP will make a position paper on the matter and it will be submitted to the Congress.
Republic Act (RA) 9344, also known as Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act that was enacted in 2006, set the minimum age of criminal responsibility at 15.
Earlier, Senator Robinhood Padilla filed a bill before the Senate seeking to amend RA 9344, removing criminal liability exemptions for offenders aged 10 to 17 who commit heinous crimes.
Under the proposed amendment, children in conflict with the law (CICL) aged 10 but below 18 years old are to be admitted in Bahay Pag-asa or a 24-hour child-caring institution, unless the crime they committed is heinous, which includes parricide, murder, infanticide, kidnapping, and serious illegal detention where the victim is killed or raped, robbery with homicide or rape, destructive arson, rape, carnapping where the driver or occupant is killed or raped, or related to illegal drugs which are all punishable by more than 12 years of imprisonment.
“While we make it clear that our thrust is to ensure that youth offenders are dealt with through the lens of restorative and not punitive justice, we must guarantee the integrity of our justice system remains and that we do not condone a more precarious state of abuse towards our children,” Padilla said in the bill's explanatory note.
“The law remains unresponsive, if not completely remiss in exacting justice, from juvenile offenses to heinous crimes,” he added.
On August 15, a 15-year-old boy killed his 55-year-old mother in Misamis Occidental after she refused to give him food.
Police said the boy repeatedly punched his mother and banged her head on the floor.
The boy wrapped the lifeless body of his mother with cloth before fleeing.
The victim’s body was discovered by their neighbors on August 20, leading to the surrender of the suspect. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)