LOWERING the age of criminal liability from 15 years old to nine years old remains a priority of the Duterte administration, a Palace official said.
Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said Saturday President Rodrigo Duterte's position "remains unchanged," despite the latest survey by Pulse Asia showing that 55 percent of Filipinos want to keep the current minimum age of criminal liability at 15 years old.
Abella said the President’s proposal is aimed to protect the youth offenders "from being utilized by criminal elements as frontline perpetrators of criminal acts."
"The latest Pulse Asia survey showed that 55 percent of Filipinos favor keeping the minimun age of criminal liability at 15 years old. The stance of the President, however, remains unchanged,” Abella said in a statement.
"Lowering the age of criminal liability is part of the legislative agenda of President Duterte as a means to ensure that the Filipino youth would accept responsibility for their actions and be subjected to government intervention programs. It will also protect them from being utilized by criminal elements as frontline perpetrators of criminal acts," he added.
The March 15 to 20 survey by Pulse Asia found that only 20 percent of Filipinos favor pegging the lowest age of criminal liability at 12 years old, while nine percent say it should be at nine years old.
Thirteen percent believe the minimum age of criminal liability should be between 16 to 25 years old, two percent say it should be between 10 to 11 years old, and one percent favor having it at 13 to 14 years old.
Duterte, in his previous speech, lamented that the current law allows young offenders to walk free if they are below 15 years old, "irrespective of the gravity of the event."
He also blamed the youth offender's law for the country's "sordid history," thus stressing the need for its amendment.
Abella said the government would exhaust all means to explain well to the public why it is necessary to lower the minimum age of criminal liability, following the latest results of Pulse Asia poll.
“What the survey shows is that there is still a lot of work to be done, especially in explaining to Filipinos, on the rationale behind lowering the minimum age of criminal liability,” he said. (VoxPop Philippine)
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