Student and youth protest today at Senate in response to House passing MACR bill

In response to House passing MACR bill:

Student and youth form “MACR Watch,” hold protest today at Senate

In response to the passing last night by the House of Representatives on third and final reading of the proposed bill lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 12 years, student and youth groups are formed a “MACR Watch” and held a noisy protest today at the Senate.

The opposition to the lowering of the minimum wage of criminal responsibility continues to escalate with more groups holding protests. Today youthful protesters from the student council of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines, the student party PUP Speak, Pwersa Youth and Partido Manggagawa-Kabataan marched from the Film Center to the Senate complex to call on senators to reject the proposed bill that seeks to criminalize children aged 12 years old and above. The protest follows on the heels of a similar protest yesterday along Katipunan Ave. by scores of Ateneo students led by the student council.

The young protesters carried a streamer with the call “Paaralan hindi kulungan para sa mga batang Pilipino! Not 9! Not 12! No to the lowering of the age of criminal responsibility!” The groups announced that they are forming a “MACR Watch” that will monitor the deliberations by Senate on the proposed bill.

The various youth groups are all part of the Partido Manggagawa (PM) partylist coalition. Dhel Pulanco, the groups’ spokesperson, declared that “The opposition to making children criminals, along with the bloody war on drugs by the Duterte administration, is part of the election platform of PM.” Pulanco is third nominee of PM which is among the 134 partylist organizations that the Comelec recently announced is accredited.

“We challenge the Senate to engage in evidence-based policy-making instead of impressionistic law-making. In last Friday’s hearing at the Senate, numerous experts spoke against the proposed bill based on tons of scientific research and case studies of children in conflict with the law. Yet committee chair Sen. Gordon abruptly ended the hearing and declared that he stands by his unsubstantiated opinion that children aged 12 years old should be arrested and imprisoned. This same modus operandi of unscientific legislative work animated the House when it passed the MACR bill,” Pulanco elaborated.

He added that “The present Juvenile Justice and Welfare Law has enough provisions to address the concerns of some about incidents of children in conflict with the law. It must be said that these incidents are decreasing according to the PNP. Address the root causes not the symptoms of the problem of children in conflict with the law. For example, the prevalence of child labor is a much bigger issue but it is not being addressed by the administration and Congress.”

The groups vowed that the action today will not be the end of the protests against the proposed bill. Pulanco averred that “Along with other student, youth, human rights and civil society organizations, we will campaign until the proposed bill is killed.”

January 29, 2019

Blame our state leaders, not our kids - Partido ng Manggagawa

Press Release
September 15, 2011

The proposal to criminalize child offenders by lowering the prescribed minimum age of criminal responsibility, now at 15  under the Juvenile Justice Act, is a cure worse than the disease, the labor group Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) said in a statement.

“The proposal puts the blame to our kids rather than to our state leaders who failed to address the chronic problem of poverty that fuels the growing sense of hopelessness among our young people,” said PM secretary general Judy Ann Miranda.

According to Miranda, the intent of the Juvenile Justice Act was very clear and to some extent, comprehensive.  It mandates the state not only to recognize and protect the rights of our children against unnecessary criminal liabilities but also in taking charge of their welfare through a comprehensive program.  It even defined the roles of specific government agencies down to the level of barangay tanods in implementing the program.

“The very fact that these kids have mastered the streets rather than the school already explains a lot about this problem.   Poor street kids don’t play with the law.  They play with their adversities in life,” stressed Miranda. 

The labor group said getting involved in juvenile crimes is the downside of our youth’s development owing to the harsh economic conditions their young age has to face because of poverty.  Unfortunately in this country, corrupt state officials have no moral ascendancy to penalize the young for law breaking. 

“In an ideal setup, children 15 years and below should be in values, literacy and numeracy training in schools.  And between 15-24 age bracket, they should be honing their skills in transition to the world of work,” explained Miranda.

Miranda added that those who were involved in petty street crimes, the ‘hamog boys’ and ‘jumper boys’ alike, were basically the poor children ‘who got lost in this transition’ because the state has failed to prepare them academically and technically into the world of work.

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), there are about 2.4 million “working children” in the Philippines and they are mostly involved in “hazardous” type of work, including mining and illicit activities such as drug trafficking and prostitution.

Furthermore, Partido ng Manggagawa revealed that problems of unemployment and precarious working conditions also await our young people.  Based on the 2008 Labor Force Survey, unemployment rate is higher under age 25, at 49.64% of the total unemployed.

Majority of young workers likewise comprise the so-called “rotating worker” or “endo” worker (end of contract) who shifts from one contractual employment to another.  This is rampant in export zones and service industry including the BPO, and now creeping into the aviation industry with the massive contractualization scheme being implemented at the Philippine Airlines.