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Survey On Age of Criminal Liability in The Philippines
Survey On Age of Criminal Liability in The Philippines
Survey On Age of Criminal Liability in The Philippines
Survey Report
Teacher
November 2023
Introduction
We have known Youths as being sent to school to learn and to value education, most
especially to have a right conduct for the children to properly behave in preparation of reaching
their career and be responsible and to be a law-abiding citizen. But nowadays, numbers of cases
Republic Act No. 9344 or the "Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act" defines the Juvenile
Justice and Welfare System as a system dealing with children at risk and children in conflict with
the law, which provides child-appropriate proceedings, including programs and services for
prevention, diversion, rehabilitation, re-integration and aftercare to ensure their normal growth
and development.
The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 (JJWA; R.A. 9344) can transform the life
of a CICL (Child in Conflict of the Law); In one of documentaries of Atom Araullo's Specials
'Batas Bata', he showed a different shade to the life of youths. A ragged, messy, and chaotic life
of some youth here in the Philippines that opened the eyes of many.
Augusto "Daga", a young man, now 23 years old was once a CICL who grew up from an
extreme poverty grew up with a father who was abusive and alcoholic, Daga went down a path
not uncommon for those who grow up in extreme poverty, without proper nourishment and
structure he dropped out of school and became involved with a gang of boys from his
neighborhood. Tempted by what he now calls "vices"-alcohol, tobacco, drugs he found the life
and camaraderie of this neighborhood gang much more appealing than academics. It was an
escape from his family life and a space where he felt like he belonged. Between the ages of 14
and 15, while intoxicated, he was coerced by fellow gang members to murder a boy from a rival
gang during a fight. He was caught and sent to a MYRC, the substitute for a Bahay Pag-asa in
his city rather than a jail or prison, due to his young age. Upon his release, he made his purpose
in life; he started to avoid those wrong doings that he was making and decided to make a new
beginning. He started to sell hot buns at the street of divisoria; and now, it's a must to buy the
famous hot buns in divisoria who went viral in TikTok and are adored by many.
This young man is not only a product of a system of inequality in the Philippines, but a
damaged global system in which poor children encounter the juvenile justice system at
disproportionate rates. Filipino president Rodrigo Duterte was pushing to lower the MACR from
15 to nine years old. This is an ineffective, harmful, and misguided approach to combating crime
amongst children in the Philippines. The negative ramifications of lowering the MACR are far.
reaching. The result will be a regression from the progress made toward implementing UN
juvenile justice doctrines including the UNCRC, Beijing Rule, Riyadh Guidelines, and Havana
Rules. It will have a profound negative impact on the lives of poor children. Rather than
lowering the MACR, the Philippines must allocate more resources and funding into ensuring the
complete implementation of the JJWA. Indeed, lowering the MACR will only exacerbate
existing inequality and injustice. It is the wrong fix to a broken juvenile justice system. (Mullen
Scope of Survey
President Duterte, who is behind a bill lowering the age of criminal responsibility from
15 to 9 for two reasons: school-age thieves and drug-runners must be “taught responsibility” and
that the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Law is “soft” in dealing with children in conflict with the
law (CICL). Citizens have been debating whether this will have a good impact on the country
since the year of implementation of RA. 9344. The aim of this study is to report on the opinions
of our senior high school students at Southwestern University about this subject. The scope of
the study is limited to grade 25 people of grade 11 and 12 inside the campus. The survey will
only take 1 day to finish. Each volunteer of the study will be given a short questionnaire about
their opinion on the idea of lowering the age of criminal liability in the country.
Male 13 52%
Female 12 48%
Total: 25 100%
Table 1.0 shows the frequency and percentage distribution according to sex. Among the 25
15 2 8%
16 11 44%
17 9 36%
18 3 12%
Total: 25 100%
Table 1.1 shows the frequency and percentage distribution of Respondents according to Age.
Among the 25 respondents 2 are 15-year-olds, 11 are 16-year-olds, 9 are 17-year-olds, and lastly
Table 1.3 Frequency and Percentage Distribution of Respondents According to Grade Level
11 14 56%
12 11 44%
Total: 25 100%
Table 1.3 Shows the Frequency and Percentage distribution of Respondents according to Grade
Level. Among the 25 respondents 14 of them are from the Grade 11 department and 11 of them
As the numbers of cases of youth under juvenile delinquency continues to increase, these
issues should not return to the back burner. This survey aims to know the opinion of the Students
juvenile justice system, and factors that made this issue to continue firing to our society despite
For the benefit of both the inquirer and the respondents, the pen-and-paper interviewing
This approach involves doing in-person interviews with each respondent one at a time in their
classrooms while the pollster has a printed copy of the questionnaire in hand. And give them
This chapter shows the result of the Survey conducted in the study to the age of criminal
liability in Philippines. The table presented is in accordance with the survey questionnaires. The
Question 1: In your opinion, at what age should a child be imprisoned if it commits a crime?
12%
32%
20%
12%
24%
14 15 16 17 18
Table 2. Shows their answer on what they think is the right age for a child to be imprisoned if
they commit a crime. Among the 25 respondents, 32% of them say that 18 is the right age for
criminal liability in our country. Followed by 24% with 16 years old as the proper age for
criminal liability, and 20% say that 15 years old is the right age when a child could be
imprisoned if it commits a crime. While both 12% of those who are saying that 14 and 17 are the
Question 2: Do you agree that we should lower the age of criminal liability in the Philippines?
44%
56%
Yes No
Table 3. Shows their opinion on whether to lower the age of criminal liability in the Philippines.
Among the 25 respondents, 56% of them agree to lower the age of criminal liability in our
The proposal to amend the minimum age of criminal responsibility has elicited polarized
reactions in the Philippines. On one side are the politicians led by President Duterte, who are
behind a bill lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 9 for two reasons: school age
thieves and drug-runners must be “taught responsibility” and that the Juvenile Justice and
Welfare Law is “soft” in dealing with children in conflict with the law (CICL). On the other side
are human rights advocates vehemently opposing the bill on the ground that studies in the social
sciences link emotional and mental immaturity to youth offending, not to mention the
Philippines‟ binding commitment to protect children's rights when it signed the Convention on
According to the results of the survey, the majority agrees to lower the age of criminal
liability and the facts can't be hidden that there are times where youth really make a crime; but as
to what the Humanitarian Legal Assistance Foundation Project Office, Carmelita Torrefiel, says
that with proper implementation of Child Protection, the number of cases linked with CICL can
be prevented. Through proper guidance and implementation, a child in conflict with the law can
be put into rehabilitation and corrected instead of bringing them to prison. Putting a child into a
prison will never help them to grow, instead give them the penalty where a child can bear and at
Findings
When young people engage in deviant acts, what do the officials think are the reasons? Is
it their youth that makes them prone to violations? Are they for or against the proposed bill to
lower the age of criminal responsibility? More importantly, at their level, what do they think
must be done?
The result of the survey shows that the majority is agreeing to lower the age of liability in
the Philippines. They believe that despite a very young age, youth already have knowledge
regarding moral law and excluding them from the law would only encourage them for their
wrong doings.
But like that, Local officials see youth offenders as people who are not intrinsically bad or evil.
Offending is generally perceived as stemming from factors outside of the individual. Three main
themes could be generated from their responses: Lack of maturity, Peers are more influential that
Conclusion
In conclusion, the ratification about lowering the age of criminal liability should not be
brought back to the backburner; it’s an issue that affects us all, together with the future. We may
agree to lowering the criminal age of liability, but we can’t hide the fact that there will always be
a lot of factors and reasons why Youth were able to do those actions.
Studies also say that a child’s brain is not fully developed until the age of 18. Moreover,
poor economic status caused many people to resort to criminal acts in order to live without
Consequently, diversion has become the norm in handling the CICL. It is believed that
diversion prevents the formation of a delinquent self-image and the occurrence of stigma from
significant others (Bazemore & Umbreit, 1995). Without a criminal record, the youth offender is
given a chance to redeem himself/herself. Through RA 9344‟s adoption of restorative justice, the
CICLs are not viewed as criminals but as persons with problems in their social environment
involving their family, peers and community, and who needs to be rehabilitated for them to
Recommendations
In light of the conclusions above, the following practical steps are recommended:
Training should be given to all barangay officials in regard to the importance of adopting
rehabilitative justice because the study indicates a clear manifestation of their inability to reframe
their response to the CICL. They continue to believe that rehabilitation is too soft as it does not
Still, despite the programmatic recommendations, it does not necessarily defuse the
lingering contradictions within the implementation of the Law, for it goes back once more to
how justice is exercised. The Philippine state, a postcolonial entity with legacies of punitive
subjections, is still yet to come up with its own legalities. Worse, the present directives and the
proposed ones reveal the inherent cynicism of political figures and their relationship with their
therefore, should never be divorced of political and social considerations. A thorough critique is
hence needed, in order to properly comprehend the myriad cracks in the parchment curtain, or