Filipinos are suckers for a good pop ballad. So much so that a lawmaker actually went ahead and played one to close a speech in the House of Representatives yesterday.
Nueva Ecija 3rd District Representative Rosanna Vergara was voting against a bill that seeks to lower the age of criminal liability to 12 years old, a hot topic in the Philippines today.
Her speech starts at the 1:59:22 mark of this video uploaded by the Philippine House of Representatives’ YouTube channel.
“Madam Speaker, as legislators, we propose laws that do not serve ourselves but the next generation.
“Laws that will make our country better, greater stronger. And House Bill 8858 does not accomplish this task.
“Rather, it goes against the basic Filipino core value system: pagmamahal sa Diyos at pagmamahal sa pamilya, pakikipag kapawa tao, respeto sa nakakatanda, pagiintindi sa mga naaapi (Love for God and love for family, forming good relationships, respect for elders, [and] understanding the oppressed),” she starts.
Before officially voting “no” she closed her speech by holding up her phone and playing the Whitney Houston hit “Greatest Love of All.”
“Honorable speaker, the words from this 90s hit song say simply why I vote as I do,” she said, ever so seriously.
As cheesy as it might be, Vergara’s speech actually captures the main points raised by lawmakers and regular citizens who are against the proposed bill.
In her speech, she goes on to say that scientific studies show that those below 16 years old are not psychologically and mentally mature and have “limited capacity to fully distinguish right from wrong.”
Vergara also pointed out that child delinquencies are often caused by economic struggles and problems in the home, illustrating that these children are victims of circumstance.
“Our poverty level is still high, our health care programs are inadequate, and education is still not accessible to all. Despite our country’s record GDP growth, we are still unable to provide adequate livelihood and employment opportunities for our people. Filipinos seek employment abroad to provide a better future for their children. This is the sad reality,” she said.
She compared the Philippines to India and China, other countries with large labor exports, and said that their minimum age of criminal liability is set at 18 and 16 respectively.
“It seems they are aware that single-family homes contribute to child delinquencies. In these countries, there is a discernable recognition that the commission of offenses by children cannot be severed from the economic context,” Vergara said.
In the end, the lawmaker said that the government should punish syndicates who use children to get away with committing illegal activities, and not the children whom they abuse.
“This bill we voted on today is punitive, unjust, and attacks the most vulnerable sector of our country — our youth,” she said.
But it turned out that way more representatives were in favor of lowering the age of criminal liability. The House of Representatives passed the bill on its third and final reading yesterday, voting 146-34, ABS-CBN News reported.
The bill seeks to lower the age of criminal liability to 12 years old, higher than the proposed 9 years old that made headlines last week, but lower than the current 15 years old.
This has been criticized by parents, lawmakers, and human rights groups.
The Human Rights Watch said that doing so would further stigmatize children and turn them into crime scapegoats. The Philippines’ Commission on Human Rights, on the other hand, said that lowering the age is a “simplistic response” to the complex issue of juvenile delinquency.
However, the move is also supported by many, including Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte who once said that the current law that sets the age of criminal responsibility to 15 years old produces “people of criminal minds.”
