Fixing how the government rehabilitates young offenders matters more than pushing down the age at which children can be held criminally liable, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
She framed the intervention and diversion programs as the real priority. “For me, more than the age itself, one of the most important starting points is the intervention and diversion programs for children who run into problems or violate the law,” Hontiveros said. These programs, she argued, should extend even to the most severe cases, including minors who kill or injure other children, “like in Tacloban.”
On the question of the age floor itself, the senator drew a firm line while leaving room to update the underlying law. “I’m against lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility,” she said in mixed English and Filipino. “But I agree that we should review and evaluate it and, if needed, amend it to strengthen the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act.” She said she holds no position on raising the age either, noting that child-welfare advocates had previously settled on keeping the threshold at 15.
Current law under Republic Act 9344 shields a child aged 15 or younger from criminal liability, routing them into intervention programs rather than prosecution. Graver offenses such as murder, homicide, or rape — along with repeat offenses — trigger mandatory placement in a Bahay Pag-asa. These centers are legally bound to keep minors in residential rehabilitation entirely apart from adult detention, the aim being to keep young offenders from sliding back into crime.
The debate gained urgency after the June 22 attack at San Jose National High School in Tacloban, where three students were killed, prompting fresh questions about whether the law goes easy on juvenile offenders. Hontiveros chaired the first Senate inquiry into the shooting, and during that hearing she floated the idea of boosting funding for Bahay Pag-asa facilities. Parents of two of the slain students told senators they wanted the age of criminal responsibility reviewed and the suspects imprisoned rather than merely rehabilitated; Hontiveros assured them the committee was weighing their concerns.
Should any measure touching the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act land before the Senate justice committee, she said she intends to take part directly. “I’ll participate actively so I can learn what the state of the art is in the science and in the right advocacy,” she said.
The senator also pointed to weaknesses the inquiry exposed in the state’s ability to move quickly against those who groom or prey on children online. Closing those gaps, she said, would demand action across the entire chain — gaming firms, social media platforms, internet providers, financial intermediaries, schools, and parents alike — whether through amending existing statutes or writing new ones.
She returned to what online gaming environments were meant to be. “Those online spaces, again, I would like to stress, they were originally safe spaces. They’re games — it’s right there in the name. So we should be playing there, enjoying ourselves, and making friends,” Hontiveros said. “These should remain safe spaces, and deny access to malicious actors who spread things like [nihilistic violent extremism],” she added.
