(Eagle News) — Senator Panfilo Lacson on Tuesday, Jan. 22, said he would support the lowering of the criminal age of liability but on a number of conditions.
In a statement, Lacson said the “youth offender” should have been “proven to have acted with discernment when he or she committed the crime, especially serious ones”; “sentencing” should be “suspended until the offender reaches the age of majority”; and there should be “enough and properly supervised reformative facilities to rehabilitate the youth offenders.”
He said his support for the lowering of the age of criminal liability “to a certain level” will also depend on “science-based testimonies of experts in the field of child psychology.”
Lacson clarified, however, that nine years old was “too young” for criminal liability.
The House justice panel has approved an amendment to the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act, which pegs the age of criminal liability to nine years old.
The Senate has yet to discuss a counterpart measure.
