[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

July 8



PHILIPPINES:

Senators split on lowering age of criminal liability to 9


Is the Philippines ready to put to death a 9-year old?

Senator Paolo "Bam" Aquino IV posed this challenge to critics of the Juvenile 
Justice and Welfare Act and those calling for the lowering of age of criminal 
liability.

Sen. Panfilo "Ping" Lacson, for his part, said he is willing to support the 
bill offhand, noting how crime syndicates are exploiting the juvenile 
delinquency law and that "times have changed."

"There are 12 years old who can think like a criminal and is exposed to a world 
of crime. The workings of his mind are already different. So I suggest that 
Congress discuss this, but I'm willing to support the move to lower the age of 
criminal liability," Lacson said.

Aquino said he cannot agree to adjust the age of juvenile delinquents that 
should be made to face the law in view of the possibility of the restoration of 
the death penalty.

"If we allow both of these laws to pass, we would be putting even children as 
young as nine-year old as candidates on death row," said Aquino, chair of the 
Senate committee on youth.

"So, is this the kind of Philippines that we want?" Aquino asked.

The senator was reacting to a resolution filed by presumptive House Speaker and 
Davao del Norte Representative Pantaleon Alvarez that seeks to lower the 
minimum age of criminal responsibility from the current 15 years old to 9 years 
old.

Alvarez also sought passage of the bill restoring the death penalty in keeping 
with President Rodrigo Duterte???s all-out anti-criminality campaign.

But the senator said that to give full criminal liability to a nine-year-old 
would be "too cruel" and is not the appropriate kind of development a child or 
a youth should need.

"If you put the 2 bills that he filed together, the restoration of the death 
penalty and the lowering of the age of criminal liability to 9 years-old, then 
we might be faced with a situation subjecting even a 9-year old child to life 
imprisonment or death penalty," Aquino pointed out.

"I don???t know if the proponents of the law realize this but there are cases 
that drug couriers or drug lords or drug pushers use children and the children 
are the ones caught," he said.

"That child can actually get life imprisonment or death penalty. I don't think 
that's what we want to do...Is the Philippines ready to kill a 9 year old that 
was involved in that kind of circumstances? I don't think that's what we want 
to do, to kill a child," Aquino said. Lacson said Congress should obtain strong 
empirical data on the number of youth criminals so lawmakers can be guided as 
to the appropriate age to hold a young offender criminally liable.

"I need to see the statistics. We need strong empirical data. We shouldn't 
guess and then decide. But as far as I'm concerned, lowering the age of 
criminality, I'm saying this, is a foregone conclusion. We need to lower the 
age so there could be criminal liability," he said.

"Because if a child is 12 or 15 years old but his discernment is that of a 20 
or 21 years old, then he cannot be considered a victim. That's what I want to 
see, and we need to call in resource persons - psychologists, psychiatrists to 
complete the information we have," Lacson said.

Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan had earlier cautioned lawmakers against rushing 
to enact laws that would dictate the future of the country's young people who 
need guidance.

Pangilinan, who helped push for the passage of the bill into law in 2006, also 
objected to authors of the measure who believe juvenile delinquents are 
"pampered" criminals.

"Pampered? Many of the child offenders I've met were not raised in pampered 
environments. Many of them started as petty thieves who were forced by hunger 
and poverty to commit such crimes," Pangilinan said.

"They gradually escalated to drug use, usually to deaden their hunger because 
rugby is cheaper than food. Their sense of humanity is also destroyed," he 
pointed out.

"We should be going after the syndicates, and not the children. What happens if 
you arrest and prosecute the child alone? What do you do with the syndicates 
who used them in the 1st place?" added the senator.

Pangilinan said the provisions in both the original act and the amending law 
were backed by studies and said that any subsequent amendments to be introduced 
again should also be supported by hard data.

He said RA 9344, as amended is considered a landmark child protection law that 
establishes a comprehensive and child-sensitive justice system. The law 
prohibits the detention of children in jails, especially with hardened 
criminals, and provides for juvenile delinquency prevention and intervention 
programs, among others.

(source: mb.com.ph)