CARLA N. CAñET
January 24, 2019

NEGROS Occidental Third District Representative Alfredo Abelardo Benitez said on Wednesday, January 23, that the measure being tackled by the House committee on justice is not meant to jail a minor offender but to bring him or her to a training center for rehabilitation or reformation.

He said the measure was triggered by the reports received by President Rodrigo Duterte that there were seven-year-old children who were used to push illegal drugs and there was also a 14-year-old who was brave to say he will continue engaging in thievery because he will only be jailed at 15 when he gets caught. 

With these situations, the President has asked why not bring back the criminal liability of a minor offender to nine years old, Benitez said.

He said that their amendment was for an offender who is between 9 to 15 years of age and will never be brought to jail but to training centers as a form of rehabilitating them.

“Those minor offenders will be brought back to their parents or guardians. The mere fact that they committed a crime, that means they had a bad influence from others or they were never raised well by their parents or guardians,” he said.

He added that if they will be brought back to their parents or guardians, they will still go back to the same bad environment. It might be that they need rehabilitation or be given an intervention that could help them attain reformation.

What is being considered and discussed in the committee level is the age of a child between the age of 9 or 12, he said.

He voted in favor of the proposed measure which was passed on second reading on Wednesday, he said.

For his part, Abang Lingkod party-list Representative Stephen Paduano also voted in favor of the proposed measure as it gears towards the reformation of a minor offender rather than let them languish in jail.

For him, a minor aged 9 can already discern given the fact that the awareness they got from the social media.

Other Negrense solons were not available for comment as of the moment.

Meanwhile, a resident, Remias Rebono, said he is not in favor of lowering the criminal liability to nine years old. It's too young. It might be at 12 years of age.

“A nine-year-old child still enjoys his or her innocence. If a child commits an offense, he or she should be disciplined by the parents and not by the authorities,” he said.

His wife, Gina Rebono, said that a child's innocence was just taken advantage by elders who have evil plans.

“Those who used the children for their wrongdoing(s) should be penalized rather than the children because they are innocent. There were instances that children were just invited to come to somebody they just knew or invited by their friends without knowing that they will be doing something wrong that violates the law and normally, the parents were the last persons to know if they are already caught by the authorities,” she said.

Jurgen Junsay, also a father, said they also have limitations to impose discipline on their child because there is also a law that punishes parents who are seen nagging or dragging their child from a computer center or any area that is already beyond the knowledge of the parents. 

If a nine-year-old is punished by law, he asked if the local government like Bacolod City has a facility to really cater to these offenders and ensure their total reformation, as he expressed doubts.

Edith Rivera, a vendor at the public plaza, said a child offender should rather be endorsed to the Department of Social Welfare and Development for their reformation.