Mounting cases of young offenders have pushed the Philippine National Police to throw its weight behind legislative moves that would drop the threshold for criminal liability to 12 years old.
P/Col. Allen Rae Co, the PNP spokesperson, said the agency’s position rests on its own review of crime figures showing more minors becoming entangled in offenses. “Medyo nagkakaproblema na tayo. We studied ‘yung data… medyo tumataas ‘yung involved na children in conflict with the law,” he said.
The threshold currently sits at 15 under Republic Act 9344, the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006. Children at or below that age are shielded from prosecution, while those between 15 and 18 can be charged only when found to have acted with discernment.
That qualifier, Co stressed, would not disappear even if lawmakers approved a lower cutoff. Authorities would still weigh whether a child understood the weight of his actions, with the Department of Social Welfare and Development tasked to make that assessment. Some recorded cases, he noted, have involved children as young as nine, though those generally did not concern grave offenses.
The renewed debate follows the June 22 shooting at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, where two students aged 14 and 15 allegedly opened fire, killing three schoolmates and wounding 20 others. Co said the 15-year-old already falls outside the exemption and could face regular court proceedings should investigators conclude he grasped the consequences of the attack, while the younger suspect would be placed under DSWD care.
Senator Robin Padilla has gone further than the police position, filing Senate Bill No. 372 to amend RA 9344 by setting the floor at 10 years old and stripping exemptions for minors who commit heinous crimes, according to the Daily Tribune.
Malacañang has signaled openness to the shift. Palace Press Officer Claire Castro called the 12-year-old proposal reasonable, telling reporters that many young people today are sharply aware of the law and that some may grow bolder believing their age places them beyond accountability. She added that guiding the youth cannot fall on government alone.
Pressed on whether bullying played a role in the Tacloban violence, Co declined to single out one cause. “I don’t think that it is mutually exclusive. They could have been bullied, and that may have further strengthened the influence of online content on them,” he said.
