Duterte says Pangilinan "created a generation of criminals"
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| President Rodrigo Duterte and Sen. Francis Pangilinan, photo from ABS-CBN News |
Duterte said that Pangilinan is the "one single person" who "promoted criminality in this country."
"Kaya nga nagtataka ako bakit nananalo pa yan, pa ek-ek," he said.
In speeches on Oct 18 and 19 Duterte said taht Pangilinan's law enables all below 15 to commit serious crimes and be allowed to go freely, or else policemenwill be the ones incriminated.
He added that the government is in a "desperate situation" dealing with a "deadly menance" after the law has allowed itself to be broken.
Duterte said that Panglininan did "terribly wrong" by crafting the law which he copied from the Juvenile Offenders Act of New York and Washington.
"It could be stealing, robbery with rape, with homicide or rape with killing, they go scot-free. There’s no such thing as, they are brought to a judge. It’s a vacuum created by Pangilinan," he said.
"What Kiko Pangilinan should have done was make a colatilla or a condition provided that in every town or city, there should be a correctional institution. Not to put them in prison but to detain them and be lectured on what is right and what is wrong...Now, why don't they amend it?" he added.
Since the campaign season, Duterte and his allies pushed for lowering the age of criminal responsibility – from 15 years to 9 years old, as it originally was in the Revised Penal Code.
As early as the 2016 campaign, Duterte had sought the amendment of Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice Act of 2006.
However, RA 9344 is in fact already amended.
In 2013,RA 10630 was created amending RA 9344.
Section 20-A of the later law allows children as young as 12 years old to be detained for serious crimes such as rape, murder, and homicide, among others. RA 10630 also mandates local government units to manage their own Bahay Pag-Asa.
source: Balitang Maharlika
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