LOOK: Child rights groups stage protest at Senate to oppose lowering MACR Different child rights groups have staged a protest outside the Senate complex on Monday to oppose the proposed law that would lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) for minors. Groups such as the Salinlahi Alliance for Children’s Concerns, Philippine Alliance of…
IDEALS, Inc.’s Statement on the Lowering of the Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility This administration is failing an entire generation of Filipino children. Thousands are already orphaned from the bloody anti-drug campaign. Now, under a proposed legislation, they will be jailed and tried as hardened criminals. On January 28, Congress passed on third and final…
Karen Gallman: 12 ‘still too young’ as minimum age of criminal liability Miss Intercontinental 2018 Karen Gallman started her media blitz this week after winning the country’s first ever title in the pageant. The questions weren’t easy – she was asked her view on a number of hot issues in the Philippines. In an interview…
Doctors unite to oppose bill lowering age of criminal liability The country’s leading alliances of pediatricians, child psychologists, psychiatrists, neurologists, and medical specialists have united to express their strong opposition to the bill seeking to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility. Before the press on Thursday, the following medical organizations declared they are backing…
Workers, Labor Rights Advocates Look Back at 2018, Slam Duterte Admin for Rampant Labor Rights Violations On January 31, 2019, more than 200 workers, Church people and students gathered at the Iglesia Filipina Independiente National Cathedral to tackle the situation of workers’ and human rights in the country. The activity is hosted and organized by…
ES Transport workers score strike victory Nearly hundred ES Transport workers now back at work only two days after they went on strike. The strike which only started on January 31, 2019 has reached a successful resolution after the management agrees to reinstate the suspended workers and return the bus trips to its original schedule…
ATM Statement on the passage of a new mining tax bill at Senate The Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) is an alliance of more than a hundred people’s organizations, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs), national environmental groups, Church groups and academic institutions who have decided to collectively challenge the aggressive promotion of large-scale mining in the Philippines through…
Duterte’s MACR not about children, but Dictatorship Legislators aim to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) to below fifteen (15) years old in such a rushed manner, seemingly ignoring all scientific evidence and expert warnings, as if the country is being run down by children rampaging in the streets causing public mayhem and…
Children are Treated as Criminals Fr. Shay Cullen 25 January 2019 The lower chamber of the Philippine Congress is going to approve the lowering of the minimum age of criminal liability of a child from the present 15 years-of-age to 12-years-of-age. They really want to reduce it to 9 but public outcry forced the politicians…
New weekly newspaper out in Laguna, vows ‘good journalism’ SANTA ROSA CITY, Philippines – A newspaper covering Laguna will be launched on Wednesday, January 30, in this city, promising Lagunenses “in-depth news and compelling stories.” The newsweekly, called Laguna Now, will circulate in the six cities and several towns of this bustling province just south…
Open Letter to the Committee on Justice of Senate of the Philippines Senate President: Senator Vicente C. Sotto III, Via email: os_sotto@yahoo.com Geneva, 24 January 2019 Re: Minimum age of criminal responsibility must not be lowered Dear Senator Vicente C. Sotto III, The World Organization Against Torture (OMCT), the leading global network of civil society…
Rehabilitation, not punitive actions: Statement on Lowering the Age of Criminal Liability The ardent moves in Congress to lower the age of criminal liability from 15 to 9 years old reflects the weakness, if not utter lack, of rehabilitation programs in the country. The approval of House Committee on Justice last January 21 of a…
Jail 9-year-olds? Psychologist details why it’s ‘morally, neurologically’ wrong A psychologist on Wednesday offered several points against holding children aged 9 and above criminally liable, a proposal that is moving forward at the lower chamber of Congress. The House justice committee on Wednesday approved a bill seeking to lower the age of criminal responsibility to…
4Ps and Human Rights Series Part 2: 4Ps’ Impact on Children’s Rights and Women’s Rights by Isaac Linco ABOUT THIS SERIES: It has been over 11 years since the inception of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps). This three-part series examines the ways it has or has not addressed the progressive realization of human rights…
Small fishers call for pro-people rehabilitation of Manila bay The Duterte administration’s rehabilitation of Manila Bay is set to begin on 27 January but a group of municipal fishers around the bay are decrying the lack of community involvement in the P47 billion clean up, and are demanding a more pro-people rehabilitation plan. “The government’s…
Tiraniko at sistematikong pagkitil sa kinabukasan ng kabataan ang pagpapababa ng edad sa responsibilidad sa krimen Mahigpit na kinokondena ng PAGKAKAISA NG KABABAIHAN PARA SA KALAYAAN (KAISA KA) ang galaw ng Mababang Kapulungan na pababain ang edad ng responsibilidad sa krimen sa siyam (9) na taong gulang. Pangunahing obligasyon ng estado na tiyakin ang maganda,…
Anne Curtis saddened by proposal to lower age of criminal liability Actress Anne Curtis has expressed her stand on lowering the age of criminal liability from 15 to nine years old. “Nakakalungkot isipan na ibaba nila ang criminal responsibility to the age of 9. At that age, they are still very much children,” Curtis wrote…
Mga child advocate, NGO sa CDO, tutol sa pagpapababa ng edad ng pananagutan CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Sabay-sabay na nagsindi ng kandila at nanumpa ang mga child advocate at non-government organization sa Kiosko Kagawasan, Cagayan De Oro City Martes ng gabi. Simbolo ito ng kanilang pagtutol sa inaprubahang panukalang batas sa House Committee on…
UN’s Callamard slams lowering age of criminal liability; Palace reacts United Nations Special Rapporteur Agnes Callamard took to Twitter to criticize the bill in the House of Representatives seeking to lower the age of criminal responsibility to nine years old. Callamard on Monday called the proposal “shameful” and “potentially deadly” after the House justice committee…
CHR to gov’t: Address conditions pushing children to commit crimes The Commission on Human Rights (CHR) urged the government to address the problems that push children to commit crimes, instead of “confining” kids as young as 9 and holding them liable. “We urge the government to address conditions that push children to such circumstances, rather…
