[GUEST ACCESS MODE: Data is scrambled or limited to provide examples. Make requests using your API key to unlock full data. Check https://lunarcrush.ai/auth for authentication information.]  Leila de Lima [@manayleila](/creator/twitter/manayleila) on x 192.1K followers Created: 2025-07-20 05:01:11 UTC STATEMENT OF REP. LEILA M. DE LIMA Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Partylist On the Bill Seeking to Lower the Age of Criminal Responsibility XX July 2025 Lowering the age of criminal responsibility to XX years old is not justice. It is abdication. It is a failure of imagination, of compassion, and of government. Hindi kriminal ang bata. Ang batang naligaw ay hindi dapat kinukulong kundi kinakausap, inaaruga, at binibigyan ng pag-asa. We do not fix a broken justice system by putting its weight on the smallest, weakest shoulders. We fix it by asking hard questions: Bakit may batang nalululong sa krimen? Sino ang tunay na nakikinabang sa mga pagkakasalang ito? Saan tayo nagkulang bilang lipunan? Senator Padilla’s proposal is not new. It is a recycled idea that refuses to die, no matter how many times child rights advocates, neuroscientists, developmental psychologists, social workers, and human rights defenders have refuted it with facts, and compassion. This bill does not address crime. It punishes trauma. It does not protect society. It betrays children we have already failed. The law we already have—RA 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act—is clear, progressive, and rooted in restorative justice. What we lack is not legislation, but thoughtful implementation. Ilan na ba sa ating mga LGU ang may maayos na Bahay Pag-asa? Ilan ang may sapat na social workers, psychologists, at trained personnel to offer real intervention and reintegration? Let us not pretend that incarceration is the only language the State knows how to speak. As a former Secretary of Justice, I have seen what jails do to children. And I have seen what care, education, and structured rehabilitation can achieve. The difference is life-changing. Sometimes, life-saving. Kung ang sagot natin sa batang nadapa ay kulungan, hindi ang bata ang tunay na dapat usigin kundi ang sistemang wala nang malasakit. I appeal to my colleagues in the Senate and in the House: This is not a question of being “soft” or “tough” on crime. This is a question of who we are as a people. Are we the kind of nation that throws away a child before we even try to understand their pain? To be truly just is to know the difference between punishment and cruelty. And to those who say that children today are “more exposed,” I say: exposure is not consent. Exposure is not maturity. Exposure is not accountability. Kung mas exposed ang bata ngayon sa karahasan, droga, at pang-aabuso, lalo silang dapat pangalagaan. Imbes na ikulong. Let us stop treating children as threats. They are mirrors. If we don’t like what we see, it is not the mirror we must shatter. It is the reflection of our failures. XXXXXXX engagements  **Related Topics** [ang](/topic/ang) [lima](/topic/lima) [$hood](/topic/$hood) [stocks technology](/topic/stocks-technology) [Post Link](https://x.com/manayleila/status/1946797513517973970)
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Leila de Lima @manayleila on x 192.1K followers
Created: 2025-07-20 05:01:11 UTC
STATEMENT OF REP. LEILA M. DE LIMA Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Partylist On the Bill Seeking to Lower the Age of Criminal Responsibility XX July 2025
Lowering the age of criminal responsibility to XX years old is not justice. It is abdication. It is a failure of imagination, of compassion, and of government.
Hindi kriminal ang bata. Ang batang naligaw ay hindi dapat kinukulong kundi kinakausap, inaaruga, at binibigyan ng pag-asa.
We do not fix a broken justice system by putting its weight on the smallest, weakest shoulders. We fix it by asking hard questions: Bakit may batang nalululong sa krimen? Sino ang tunay na nakikinabang sa mga pagkakasalang ito? Saan tayo nagkulang bilang lipunan?
Senator Padilla’s proposal is not new. It is a recycled idea that refuses to die, no matter how many times child rights advocates, neuroscientists, developmental psychologists, social workers, and human rights defenders have refuted it with facts, and compassion.
This bill does not address crime. It punishes trauma. It does not protect society. It betrays children we have already failed.
The law we already have—RA 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act—is clear, progressive, and rooted in restorative justice. What we lack is not legislation, but thoughtful implementation. Ilan na ba sa ating mga LGU ang may maayos na Bahay Pag-asa? Ilan ang may sapat na social workers, psychologists, at trained personnel to offer real intervention and reintegration?
Let us not pretend that incarceration is the only language the State knows how to speak. As a former Secretary of Justice, I have seen what jails do to children. And I have seen what care, education, and structured rehabilitation can achieve. The difference is life-changing. Sometimes, life-saving.
Kung ang sagot natin sa batang nadapa ay kulungan, hindi ang bata ang tunay na dapat usigin kundi ang sistemang wala nang malasakit.
I appeal to my colleagues in the Senate and in the House: This is not a question of being “soft” or “tough” on crime. This is a question of who we are as a people. Are we the kind of nation that throws away a child before we even try to understand their pain?
To be truly just is to know the difference between punishment and cruelty.
And to those who say that children today are “more exposed,” I say: exposure is not consent. Exposure is not maturity. Exposure is not accountability. Kung mas exposed ang bata ngayon sa karahasan, droga, at pang-aabuso, lalo silang dapat pangalagaan. Imbes na ikulong.
Let us stop treating children as threats. They are mirrors. If we don’t like what we see, it is not the mirror we must shatter. It is the reflection of our failures.
XXXXXXX engagements
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