Lowering the age of criminal liability needs a thorough study, after legislators pushed such a measure following the gun shooting incident in San Jose National High School in Tacloban City two weeks ago, involving minors, killing three and injuring roughly 20 of their fellow high school students, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said.

“If we are lowering the age of responsibility for such crimes, then it would imply that children have changed from before. So, whereas if they are under 18, under 16, will the thinking of the children change?” the President said during the ‘Kapihan’ forum in Vancouver, Canada, on Saturday (Canadian time).

He said experts also have to determine whether today’s children, who are exposed to social media, behave differently from children in previous generations.

Earlier, Senator Robin Padilla filed Senate Bill 372 seeking to amend the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006 (Republic Act 9344) to make the minimum age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 10 years old, meant only for minors involved in heinous crimes.

The President also raised the issue of the sexualization of young people, particularly the complete availability of pornography over the Internet.

“Look, we all talk about this side and that side. “Are you 18 or not?” A five-year-old can answer that properly. So what kind of test is that?” the President said as he mentioned the need for tougher restrictions.

“So when it comes to sex and violence, there really is an effect. Social media really has had an effect. But what that effect truly is, is something that’s not as easy to answer as perhaps some of the other issues.”

On the part of the government, President Marcos promised to respond appropriately, particularly by banning certain online games that may harm or affect children.

Crackdown on games considered

“So, let us simply keep moving forward. But of course, when it is clear that a certain game, or a class of games, is responsible for the desensitization of our children to violence, then yes, I think we should ban them. And we will ban them,” the President said.

He stressed the need for a thorough assessment to determine whether violent online games desensitize minors, resulting in violent acts, so that the government could carry out an appropriate response or policy.

“All of these possible actions are to be taken. We already banned the game, the shooter in Tacloban was apparently an avid player of…” the President said.

The problem, the President continues, is that (violent) online (games) desensitize minors to commit killing and violence.

“So it desensitizes children to killing and violence because, after all, it’s just a game,” the President said. “Even if your character gets shot in the game, or even if you shoot 50 people, you come back to life anyway. It desensitizes children into thinking that shooting someone isn’t really that big of a deal.”