MANILA – The justice committee of the House of Representatives is looking into “various options” on the bill seeking to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility.
In a press conference, Oriental Mindoro Representative Reynaldo Umali, head of the panel, said one possibility is to retain the threshold age at 15 years old but introducing refinements to strengthen the existing law.
The committee set a hearing on the bill for Tuesday, May 23.
The bill, authored by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, seeks to yank the age of criminal responsibility down, from 15 to nine.
“I was briefed by the committee secretariat and we see various options that can be pursued. One of these is something very new. So, maybe we will just enhance the existing law,” Umali said, declining to elaborate.
Asked if this could mean that the age for criminal responsibility would no longer be reduced, Umali said: “That is a possibility. But I don’t want to preempt the decision of the committee.”
Authors of the bill pointed out that children are being used by criminals as accomplices in their crimes, particularly drug trafficking, because these minors could not be held criminally liable.
Human rights groups, child rights advocates and several lawmakers have expressed opposition to the bill, saying it is anti-poor and would not effectively curb crimes.