The Catholic hierarchy said it opposes a measure to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility of a person, saying the government should instead go after criminal syndicates and not minors.
This was after President Rodrigo Duterte is said to be considering to reduce the criminal liability age of a person from 15 to nine years old and be prosecuted as an adult due to the perceived growing numbers of crimes committed by minors.
The Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines instead called on the Duterte administration and its allies in Congress to rethink their stance on lowering the age of criminal responsibility.
The CBCP said reducing the minimum age of criminal liability will not curb the use of children 15 years or below in criminal activities.
CBCP president Archbishop Socrates Villegas said the government should instead go after the syndicates who exploit vulnerable children.
“The fact that criminal elements make use youngsters up to 15 years old to commit crimes is no argument against the present benevolent provisions of the law, but about the resoluteness of criminals in using even the young for their purposes,” Villegas said.
“The sins and failings of young and immaturity should not mar the possibilities of one’s future nor stand forever in the name of an honourable and noble reputation that well can, in later years, very well build,” he said.
The CBCP leaders also believe that the provisions of the Juvenile Delinquency Act of 2006 remain adequate in addressing criminal activities of the youth.
“The purpose of the law is laudable; its present provisions, beneficial,” the Villegas said.
“The correct response, we believe, is vigilance on the part of parents and stiffer penalties for those who exploit the young in the perpetration of crime,” he added.
Meanwhile, a Catholic priest expressed apprehension over the government’s move to clean the ranks of the Philippine National Police, fearing that “erring cops” who were allegedly linked to illegal activities would become victims of “extrajudicial killings.”
Fr. Amado Picardal, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines Basic Ecclesial Communities, said he hopes the PNP will follow the law in going after scalawag cops.
“While the Catholic church welcomes the suspension of the government’s war against illegal drugs and summary killings of drug suspects have eased, extrajudicial killings will continue, this time with the bad cops as victims.
“I hope they will follow the law the due process. I am worried that they will use the EJKs on police suspected in drugs and corruption. What must be done is internal cleansing according to the law,” he said.
He said scalawag cops should undergo due process by being charged, jailed and dismissed from service.
“They should be charged and not killed),” Picardal said in an interview over Radio Veritas.