Giving child offenders in the Philippines a second chance

Night-time playtime: Children playing on a wooden cart in Divisoria market in Manila. — AFP

IN a rare show of spinal fortitude, members of the Philippines’ House of Representatives have scrapped a proposal to lower the minimum age of criminal liability from 15 to nine years.

Instead, the lawmakers chose to strengthen the juvenile justice law and voted for a substitute Bill that would retain 15 as the minimum age for Filipinos to be charged with a crime, but with added provisions raising the penalty for adults who had coerced children into a life of crime.