Padilla: Minor 'offenders' in Tacloban school shooting warrants swift review of Juvenile Justice Act

Senator Robin Padilla renewed calls to pass pending bills seeking amendments to the Juvenile Justice Act (RA 9344) following the fatal school shooting in Tacloban that killed three students and wounded seven others on Monday.

Padilla suggested that President Marcos Jr. should call for a special session anew to allow Congress to revisit the 20-year-old law during their break, arguing that the unfortunate event highlights the need for the government’s swift intervention to deter crimes involving minor offenders. 

“These [incidents] just keep happening: hold-up, rape, and now a shooting in school. What are our fellow senators waiting for?” Padilla said in Filipino in Facebook post. 

Padilla pushed to lower the minimum age of criminal liability from 15 to 10 years old under RA 9344, citing a supposed growing number of crimes involving youth. He introduced the proposal as early as the first week of the opening of the 20th Congress in July.

A counterpart measure was also filed in the House of Representatives in October 2025, but both bills remain pending at the committee level to date. 

Similar proposals seeking to revise the decades-old law were introduced in previous Congresses, but none have successfully passed into law due to firm opposition from pro-human rights and children’s welfare advocates like UNICEF.

The offenders of the fatal shooting that took place at San Jose National High School in Tacloban City on early Monday are aged 14 and 15. Both are Grade 9 students at the school and are currently in police custody.  Their identity are being withheld in compliance with RA 9344.

According to PNP information chief and spokesperson Col. Allen Rae Co, the firearm used by one of the alleged offenders is from his aunt, who is a police woman. 

Senate President Win Gatchalian expressed alarm over the series of school violence cases recently, including two stabbing incidents in separate schools in Cavite, which occurred during the first week of classes.

Due to this, Gatchalian said swift, immediate psychosocial support and intervention for affected learners, teachers, and school personnel across schools are highly warranted. 

Even with the recent surge in school-related violence, the Juvenile Justice Welfare Council in November last year reported a remarkable drop in the number of children involved in crimes: from 20,000 cases in 2016, rising to a peak of over 26,000 in 2017, then plummeting to approximately 4,000 by 2024.