The tragic school shooting in Tacloban City involving two minors has prompted Senator Panfilo “Ping” Lacson to advocate for a legislative review of the country’s Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act.
Lacson argued on Wednesday that the current age thresholds for criminal liability demand reexamination, emphasizing that youth should not grant automatic immunity for severe crimes.
To support his point, he drew a parallel to a notorious 1993 British case involving the abduction and murder of a toddler by two 10-year-old boys, which ignited global debates on balancing rehabilitation with public safety.
“Our juvenile justice law may really need revisiting and further discussion,” Lacson said.
“(It) may convince us to reconsider age as an automatic exemption from criminal liability,” he said.
The Senator noted that the judicial system already has built-in protections against treating children unfairly.
He pointed to a Supreme Court ruling that mandates prosecutors to conclusively demonstrate that a minor understood the consequences of their actions before they can face charges.
“Discernment to be proven beyond reasonable doubt by state prosecutors as per the latest (Supreme Court) ruling should be safeguard enough to serve justice to all concerned,” he emphasized.
This push for legal reform comes in the wake of a horrific attack at San Jose National High School, where two Grade 9 students, aged 14 and 15, allegedly opened fire on campus. The shooting left three students dead and over 20 others wounded.
Authorities recovered a 9mm pistol belonging to the aunt of one suspect—a police staff sergeant—and a .38-caliber revolver linked to a security agency where the other suspect’s grandfather used to work. Disturbingly, investigators uncovered evidence that the attack had been plotted weeks in advance, with the suspects reportedly studying the loopholes of the juvenile justice law during their planning phases.
Under the existing legal framework, offenders aged 15 and under are completely exempt from criminal prosecution and are placed in rehabilitation programs instead.
Minors between the ages of 16 and 17 can only face criminal charges if state prosecutors successfully prove they acted with full discernment.