Lawyers: Juvenile Justice Law does not let minors escape accountability

The fatal shooting inside a school in Tacloban City on 22 June has reignited debate over Republic Act No. 9344, or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act, prompting renewed calls to amend the law while legal experts stress that many of its provisions remain widely misunderstood.

Sen. Robinhood Padilla renewed his push to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility following the incident, asking whether Congress should convene a special session to tackle proposed amendments to the law.

"There have been a series of incidents. There was robbery. There was rape. Now there has been a school shooting. What are our fellow senators waiting for?" Padilla said.

Padilla has long advocated reducing the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 10 years old, arguing that criminal groups and repeat offenders have exploited weaknesses in the current system.

But Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan, principal author of RA 9344 and its subsequent amendments, maintained that the law already provides mechanisms to hold minors accountable and that the real problem lies in implementation rather than the law itself.

In a statement following the Tacloban shooting, Pangilinan emphasized that suspects should not be automatically released simply because they are minors.

"The suspects cannot simply be released because they are minors. They must go through the process prescribed by law," Pangilinan said.

He also noted that parents may be held liable if negligence is established and that the Department of Social Welfare and Development is required to provide support to victims and their families.

The statement reflects a position Pangilinan has repeatedly defended in Congress and the Senate: that RA 9344 does not exempt minors from accountability.

Under the law, children aged 15 and below are exempt from criminal liability but are required to undergo intervention programs designed to address behavioral issues and prevent repeat offenses. Children above 15 but below 18 years old may still face prosecution if authorities determine they acted with discernment, meaning they understood the consequences of their actions

Legal experts say this distinction is often overlooked in public discussions.

In a previous Senate interpellation, Pangilinan rejected claims that minors who commit crimes cannot be punished.

"It is not true that minors cannot be punished simply because they are underage," he said. "The two individuals involved in the Maguad killings were punished and are now in detention."

Pangilinan also argued that releasing minors accused of serious crimes would itself violate the law.

Law firm Respicio & Co., on their website, likewise argued that RA 9344 is not a "get-out-of-jail-free card" but a rehabilitation framework rooted in modern neuroscience and international child-protection standards.

According to the firm, the law recognizes that adolescents generally lack the same level of impulse control and judgment as adults, while diversion and intervention programs have been shown to reduce repeat offending more effectively than incarceration.

The firm also emphasized that the law imposes mandatory intervention measures and does not erase civil liability, meaning parents may still be held responsible for damages caused by their children.

DAILY TRIBUNE columnist Atty. Nilo Divina, in his column on 11 March 2019, similarly explained that children above 15 but below 18 who act with discernment may still be prosecuted, convicted and subjected to appropriate sanctions.

Citing the Supreme Court's ruling in Rosal Hubilla v. People, Divina noted that imprisonment remains legally available in certain cases, although detention is considered a measure of last resort and must be imposed only for the shortest appropriate period.

“Although a CICL (Children in conflict with the law) has to serve his sentence, this does not necessarily mean that he will be imprisoned in regular penitentiaries," he said.

"He may serve the sentence in an agricultural camp or other training facilities to be established, maintained, supervised and controlled by the Bureau of Corrections, in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development, in a manner consistent with the offender child’s best interest. Such service of sentence will be in lieu of service in the regular penal institution."