by JOEL D. ADRIANO
It’s a cliche for politicians to talk about youth as the hope of a nation. In the Philippines, national leaders are instead planning a war on youth.
A series of startling crimes committed by children barely out of grade school has national legislators mulling legal changes that would make kids as young as nine years old criminally liable for their actions.
Calls to lower the age limit gained momentum following news footage featuring a series of armed robberies committed by minors who forcibly open the doors of taxis caught in traffic, rob the driver and passengers at gunpoint, and scamper away with the loot.
More recently, the nation was stunned by the case of a 12-year-old youth who shot his 16-year-old friend in the head inside a shopping mall before turning the gun on himself and taking his own life.
Senator Francis Escudero, the legislator leading the move to amend the law, has claimed that today’s children mature more quickly than previous generations due to their exposure to the Internet and social media platforms. “The times have rendered the law impotent to address objective realities and needs,” Escudero said.
Consistent with Western norms, Philippine law considers anyone under the age of 18 a minor and not criminally liable for their actions. Offenders between the ages of 15 and 17 are sent to child rehabilitation facilities, while those below the age of 15 are exempted altogether from prosecution.
In reality, however, rehabilitation programs are seldom carried out as most local governments do not have the capacity or funds to implement them. The criminal syndicates that increasingly resort to youth to ply their illicit trades have leveraged into that weak law enforcement.
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