By Ninna Sandra F. Fernandez | January 30, 2019
As 2019 began in the Philippines, everyone was quite surprised when they faced the New Year with another social issue. This issue seemed to awaken everyone and being silent about it will not do any good since it involves the Filipino children. On Wednesday, January 23, the DSWD proposed to lower the criminal liability to age 12 which was originally 9 years old because “the position of DSWD is aligned with the position of the lawmakers” as said by Rolando Bautista the Social Welfare Secretary. Personally, just by looking at the age, I can tell that this certain change being implemented in society will not produce a good result or lower crime rates. First, imprisoning children does not in any way help them or it simply eradicates the essence of the law itself because “it goes against the basic Filipino core value system: pagmamahal sa Diyos at pamilya, pakikipagkapwa-tao, respeto sa nakakatanda, pag- iintindi sa mga inaapi (love of God and family, how you treat others, respect for the elderly” as stated by Congresswoman Rosanna Vergara. Second, there are no concrete proof that these children are one of the reason why the crime rates in the Philippines increased or seem to increase. If ever there is, the data will only show that children commits 1.72% crimes like theft due to poverty. This is the reason why poverty is the problem that should be solved and the children should not be punished about it. Third, I believe that when it comes to children, punishment is not the key for them to progress or improve but instead they should be helped and understood because prolonging their problem or adding more problem may result further damage their well-being. With this, my argument is that children should not be criminalized because they are not committing any crime. Given that the children who want to be put in jail are not privileged enough, they are unable to go to school and be educated properly. These children should be taught or protected by an intervention that will help the kids in the Philippines to progress and not further rebel behind bars. According to Erik Erikson and his Psychological Stages of Development, the ages between 5 to 12 years old are still considered the school age and at this stage they are just in the state of developing a virtue of competence. In this case, we can see that the children whom the law wants to put in jail should still be in school but because their state hinders them from doing so, they are greatly vulnerable to influences.
At such a young age, children who are in school is being taught on how they can be successful in life by acknowledging that they are part of the real world. Different kinds of skills are being taught to be applied in order for them to learn the processes of the society and how to take part in it. On the other hand, those who do not have the privilege to go to school and educate themselves on how they can survive in a society that is governed by laws creates their own version of being successful without knowing what seems to exist which they can violate. This indicates that children are still vulnerable when it comes to decision making since they are still in the process of identifying what is ethically right and wrong in their own lives and in their own society. Given that there is no school that can guide them, they are the ones who are guiding themselves based on what they know which means that what is ethically right and wrong from them may be different from the existing laws, educated people and those who are privileged. We can see how the problem of those who are not going to school is a private matter (Sociological Imagination, p.8). The experience that comes with the idea of not studying is only felt by the individual which hinders those who are not in their situation to think and believe that what they are doing is indeed wrong and such punishment should be done. Any conflict that may arise within the self occurs because he/she does not have the enough capability to cope with the demands of life. Such awareness is not yet present which shows that a limitation within himself and his/her social life. With this, we can see that putting them to jail will not solve the problem.
Based on the Philippines Statistics Authority that as of 2017, 10 percent of 39 million Filipinos who are aged 6 – 24 years old are out of school children and youth. This entails that ages 6 to 14 years old are not attending formal school while ages 15 to 24 years old are currently out of school and they are not employed, did not finish college or did not finish post-secondary course. This indicates that a great number of Filipino children does not know how to read and write and spends the time that they should be in school in some other things. With the given ages, the children that the law maker wants to put in jail belong to the age bracket that does not attend to formal schools. This shows that a lot of them are wandering to different places without having the ability to read the rules, understand authorities, and even express themselves through any form of communication in order for them to be understood. These children does not have he basic foundation of life which the jail does not have any solutions to. Using the data above, we can understand what is happening in society because a social interaction where in children are not getting the proper education is present and greatly expressed (Sociological Imagination, p.8). Stating these facts will help in seeing that what they are doing goes beyond a crime because in the first place, they do not know what they are capable of doing and what are the consequences awaiting them given that they do not have enough knowledge. This is not just an ordinary problem given that a lot of children are not getting their necessity and in this situation the law dictates that these children should be put to jail rather than to give them protection.
With the two claims above, we can see how a major necessity of Filipino children is not being provided because some cannot afford it. This allows them to be exposed in the realms of life without being fully developed. They face every day with the thought that they are unable to read and write which is a great factor why they are not aware of what is ethically right and wrong in society or why they are not aware that there are existing laws being violated. This is the reason why they make their own alternative to their problems and their own alternative to cope with the demands of life because they do not have the basic foundation to it in order to provide it for themselves. If children and adults who are well educated still violate the laws may it be intentionally or unintentionally what more those who were not able to attain the education that they needed. I believe that the law makers should have a quality of mind in order to understand that putting children in jail is not the best solution and putting them to jail is not the best solution or does not eradicate the root cause of the problem (Sociological Imagination, p.8). Putting these children in jail will not educate them in any way and learn about what they missed for the past 11 years because prison can never be supplemented for school. They should first understand the reason behind why these children are breaking away from what they are expected to do. Gathering information just like what are mentioned above will help them realize what is going on within these children and acknowledge that they need protection.
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