Child rights group reminds Padilla: Kids also deserve a second chance like you
Child rights advocates on Tuesday asked Sen. Robinhood Padilla “to sit down with our social workers and child rights workers” for consultations after he proposed on Friday a bill that would lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) to 10.
In a statement, the Child Rights Network (CRN) said that age was not the issue but the poor implementation of Republic Act No. 9344, or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.
“This is the truth that needs to be repeated over and over again: All kids that violate the law, no matter the age, have a liability to the Juvenile Justice Law,” the group said.
Padilla’s bill seeks to amend RA 9344, which has set the minimum age of criminal responsibility at 15.
Under his proposal, children as young as 10 who are accused of heinous crimes such as murder and rape will no longer be exempt from prosecution.
The CRN invited Padilla to consult with social workers and the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council before pushing his bill further.
“You of all people should know the value of redemption. You were once given one yourself as a former person deprived of liberty,” the group said. “It’s the same second chance every child in conflict with the law deserves.”
In 1994, Padilla was sentenced to up to eight years in jail after he was found guilty of illegal possession of firearms. He was released after four years after he was given a conditional pardon by then President Fidel Ramos. In 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte granted Padilla absolute pardon, restoring his civil and political rights, including his right to vote and run for public office.
Separate justice system
“The very essence of the law is to have a separate justice system for children. Because they are children,” the CRN said, adding, “Children are not little adults.”
It also pointed out that Padilla’s bill ignores the 2013 amendments to RA 9344, which allow for stricter interventions in the cases of repeat offenders and serious crimes.
“We already have the mechanisms. What we need are more social workers, more funding and more support for community-based and rehabilitative programs,” the group said.
It warned that lowering the MACR would only push more vulnerable children into a broken adult justice system. It also stressed that tagging children as criminals and exposing them to adult systems only increase the likelihood of future offenses.
Two party list representatives also made the same argument earlier regarding Padilla’s bill.
Akbayan party list Rep. Chel Diokno on Monday said it was not true that RA 9344 protects children who violate the law, turning them into recidivists.
While agreeing that children should be held accountable for crimes they commit, existing mechanisms also provide for their rehabilitation, Diokno said.
“Under the law, there is a Bahay Pag-Asa for their rehabilitation. What we need now—is not amendments to the law—but additional funds and support for this program,” he added.
For Mamamayang Liberal party list Rep. Leila de Lima, lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10 is not justice but “abdication.”
“This bill does not address crime. It punishes trauma. It does not protect society. It betrays children we have already failed,” she said.
“A child is not a criminal. A lost child should not be locked up but talked to, cared for, and given hope,” she stressed. —WITH REPORTS FROM GABRIEL PABICO LALU AND FAITH ARGOSINO
