Latest news with #JuvenileJusticeandWelfareAct
GMA Network
2 days ago
- Politics
- GMA Network
Lawmakers: Sending 10-year-olds to jail endangers them, perpetuates abuse
Sending children to prison would perpetuate injustice and child abuse, opposition lawmakers said amid a proposal to lower the age of criminal liability to 10 years old. Neophyte lawmakers Chel Diokno of Akbayan party-list and Renee Co of Kabataan party-list, both lawyers, made the warning in response to the proposal made by Senator Robin Padilla. 'Walang batang kusang papatay ng kapwa tao dahil lang protektado siya sa pagkakulong. Ang sahol ng judgment ni Senator Padilla sa kabataan para sabihing lumalakas ang loob nilang i-risk maging kriminal. May pag-aaral bang nagpapatunay nito? Huwag po sana puro bias ang pinapairal,' Co said in a statement. (There is no child who would purposefully kill just because they are protected from incarceration. How lacking is Senator Padilla's view of young people to say that [being below` the age of liability] encourages them to become criminals. Are there studies supporting this? Let's not always let biases rule.) 'Walang tulong ang pagpapakulong sa mga bata para sugpuin ang krimen kung malaya ang mga mastermind at bad influence at umiiral ang krisis na tumutulak sa kanilang kumapit sa patalim. Kapag nilagay sila sa mga siksikang kulungan, napupunta lang sila sa dagdag panganib at magtutuloy ang siklo ng abuso at krimen,' Co added. (Imprisoning children will not help put an end to crime if the masterminds and bad influences are free, and if the crises that push them to desperation prevail. If you put them in crowded cells, you are only putting them in more danger and the cycle of abuse and crime will continue.) Co also criticized Padilla for wanting to send children in conflict with the law to jail and yet push for the release of former President Rodrigo Duterte, who is detained in the Netherlands over alleged crimes against humanity due to the thousands of drug war killings during his term. 'Bakit galit kayo sa kabataan? Kung krimen din lang ang usapin, bakit gusto niyong iligtas sa paglilitis si Rodrigo Duterte na mastermind ng mga heinous crimes na pumaslang ng libo-libong kabataan habang pangulo, pero ang mga batang nagkasala, gigil na gigil kayong habuling mapakulong?' Co said. (Why are you angry at children? If we're talking about crime, why do you want to rescue Rodrigo Duterte—the mastermind of heinous crimes who killed thousands of young people while president—from prosecution, but you are yearning to imprison children who have done wrong?) Diokno backed Co, saying that the existing Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act, which increased the age of criminal liability from 9 to 15 years old, is not a free pass for children to commit crime. The law, he said, provides that 'a child aged 15 years old or below at the time of the commission of the offense is exempted from criminal liability, provided that the child is subjected to an intervention program also provided under the same law.' Likewise, Diokno said the Juvenile Justice law provides for Bahay Pag-Asa wherein children in conflict with the law can undergo rehabilitation, and that the existing Bahay Pag-Asa units should instead be strengthened to ensure efficiency. 'Mukhang ang gusto ni Senator Padilla ay isang lipunang marahas at walang malasakit. Pero kung talagang gusto nating solusyunan ang krimen, ayusin natin ang mga sirang tahanan, sirang paaralan, at sirang sistema. Piliin nating maging lipunang may pagkalinga at pag-asa,' Diokno said in a separate statement. (It seems Senator Padilla wants a harsh society without compassion. But if we really want a solution to crime, let us fix these broken homes, schools, and systems. Let us choose to be a society that cares and has hope.) 'What we need is not to amend the law, but providing additional funding support for the children's rehabilitation,' he added. As for children aged 15 to 18 years old who committed heinous crimes, the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act law provides punishment depending on the following: age (if 15 years old or below or above 15 but below 18 years old) the act of discernment; and penalty imposed on the offense committed. Children above 15 years old but below 18 years old who acted with discernment in committing a heinous crime face a jail time of more than six years and 'may be placed under suspended sentence and be subjected to rehabilitation programs.' Children who committed heinous crimes aged 15 years old and above but below 18 years old at the time of commission of the offense but are found to have acted without discernment, however, are exempt from criminal responsibility, regardless of the nature of the crime committed. — BM, GMA Integrated News
GMA Network
06-07-2025
- GMA Network
Two Grade 9 students in custody after caught bullying fellow student in viral video
Two Grade 9 students of the Basilan National High School are now in the custody of the City Social Welfare and Development Office, after they were caught beating up a fellow student in a viral video. Video footage circulating online shows the two ninth-grade students punching, elbowing, and kicking a 15-year-old tenth-grade student inside school premises in Isabela City, Basilan on June 25, 2025. The incident was reported to the Isabela City Police Station on June 30, 2025. According to Police Regional Office 9 Police Major Shellamie Chang, the two Grade 9 students were reportedly forcing the victim to do something against his will. 'Pinipilit siyang manigarilyo or something, basta may pinapagawa sa kaniya na ayaw niyang gawin,' she said in a report by Marisol Abdurahman on GMA's '24 Oras Weekend' on Sunday. (He was being forced to smoke or something, he was being forced to do something that he did not want to do.) Chang said the two students will face charges of violating the Anti-Bullying Act, but will be handled in accordance with the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act considering that they are still minors, and will be considered as children in conflict with the law. For his part, Basilan National High School principal Arnel Hajan said the incident may have just been for laughs: 'Katuwaan, kursonadahan, trip? Parang ganoon. (For fun, he was targeted, or a trip? Seems like it.)' Hajan said the victim, who experienced dizziness and vomiting, was initially brought to a local hospital to be treated, before being transferred to a facility in Zamboanga City. 'Pinadala po natin sa local hospital then after, trinansfer namin sa Zamboanga City para mabigyan ng magandang gamot at medical attention,' he said in the same report. (We brought him to a local hospital then after, he was transferred to Zamboanga City to be given good medicine and medical attention.) Authorities said they have since heightened police visibility both inside and outside the campus, and have activated the CCTVs in the area. GMA Integrated News is still trying to reach out to the Department of Education (DepEd) and the two ninth-grade students regarding the matter. —Jon Viktor Cabuenas/RF, GMA Integrated News
