Child Rights Network slams Senate Justice panel chair for showing fake news video, dangling budget to execs in hearing of bill lowering age of criminal responsibility

26 January 2019 – We are utterly appalled at how Senate Justice Committee Chair Richard Gordon irresponsibly used a video during yesterday’s public hearing on the bill lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR), which ended with Sen. Gordon saying he would recommend lowering the MACR to 12 years old.

During the proceedings, Sen. Gordon showed a video of children dragging an elderly man out of the jeepney and hitting him at the pavement. Clearly, it was to emphasize the supposed rising criminal behavior among children in a country, which he said, “respects the elderly.” 

The video is grossly misleading. The children shown in the video were from child rights organization Bahay Tuluyan, a Child Rights Network member, and according to Bahay Tuluyan, the elderly man portrayed by Sen. Gordon as the “victim” inappropriately touched one of the girls in the video who was also a passenger in the jeepney. According to Bahay Tuluyan, the children were only reacting to what the elderly man did to their friend. 

Lily Flordelis, Executive Director of Bahay Tuluyan, incidentally was a resource person in the public hearing and who raised her hand as soon as she saw the video being shown to the plenary. However, despite the outstretched arm, she was not recognized by Sen. Gordon. She was only given the space to explain the video in the press conference that followed the hearing.

(See video of Ms. Flordelis telling the real story behind the video shown by Sen. Gordon here: https://www.facebook.com/CRNPhilippines/videos/292866737967861/)

To further stoke the fire, Sen. Gordon, in the hearing, even offered ensuring that the proposed law will be properly funded. This is despite the fact that for years, the implementation of Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (JJWA) has faced setbacks – mainly due to underfunding. We note that currently, there are only 58 working facilities of this type, most are overcrowded and underfunded. Even in the 2019 national budget – recently passed by the Senate – there is literally zero funding to build and maintain more of such institutions. Thus, children in conflict with the law are in danger of being placed in regular jail facilities, a clear picture that lawmakers either fail or refuse to see.

Even Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council Executive Director Atty. Tricia Oco was quoted as saying: “[Bahay Pag-asa’s] lack the minimum staff requirement; they even lack food for children. Some of the Bahay Pag-asa that we saw are worse than prisons. They don’t have programs, beds, and cabinets.”

She further said that no Intensive Juvenile Intervention and Support Center, where children can undergo an intensive multi-disciplinary intervention program, has been built inside the Bahay Pag-asa.

Instead of heeding resounding calls from the public, including child rights experts and practitioners from across disciplines, to fully implement the JJWA, Sen. Gordon and other lawmakers who support the lowering of the age have admitted that their decision is mainly due to accommodating what President Duterte wants. These law makers have demonstrated willingness to take the shortcut, reject evidence, and instead make children pay for the crimes that they were only forced by circumstance to take part in; crimes – many perpetrated by drug syndicates and nefarious forces – which actually victimize children; crimes that the administration cannot solve or nip in the bud, thereby using children as scapegoat.

Today, the Filipino public has gained a valuable lesson: that pandering legislators will go to any lengths, and even push for laws that jeopardize the future of Filipino children, and in that line the future of the nation, just for personal and political gain. 

In a way, the showing of the video, when the story behind it was not validated nor verified but nonetheless irresponsibly shown to trigger a negative image of children, is analogous to what is happening today. When duty bearers refuse to understand the evidence that reform and restoration is possible; to hear the contrary opinion that age matters; and to weigh the negative impact of deprivation of liberty on a young life, all for the sake of political expediency and survival, what does that speak of our society that allows and accepts this travesty?

We call on all Filipinos who value the life, welfare, and future of Filipino children to act decisively and show our legislators and our President how wrong they are in toying with children’s rights. Let us exhaust all possible ways to beat the administration in its own game. Let us keep our indignation and vigilance burning for our children. ####

About Child Rights Network

Child Rights Network (CRN) is the largest alliance of organizations and agencies pushing for children’s rights legislation in the Philippines. CRN has a membership of 46 organizations across Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao.

For more information, contact: [email protected]