Nine years old.

That's the age the Duterte administration is looking at as the new minimum age of criminal responsibility from the current 15.

But child advocates insist, the proposal is unreasonable.

"What is the basis for setting it at 9? They are saying children now are being used by syndicates but if children are being used by adults, aren't they the victim? So why are we trying to punish them?" said Atty. Rommel Alim Abitria, Executive Director of the Humanitarian Legal Assistance Foundation.'

"We should protect the children."

In handing down justice against children-in-conflict with the law (CICL), Abitria warns, government may be looking the wrong way.

"It's not internationally acceptable when you have already set it at a higher age of 15," Abitria said.

He added, lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility will imply that the person knows what he is doing, and can actually make the right choice.

"Research, the neurosciences have proven children are still undergoing development. If a child's brain is still developing, so with his or her capacity to choose between right and wrong...It would be irresponsible for the government to actually use adult standards to make the child accountable."

Social worker Ric Batta said he is not in favor of the lowering the age of criminal responsibility.

Batta, who assisted close to a thousand cases of CICL over the past 19 years, said most of them involve kids from a lower income bracket and are caught for crimes against property and illegal drugs, mostly due to peer pressure or poverty.

"These children are victims of familial and societal problems. The government should find an alternative way to help kids reform, it should be restorative not punitive. If we want these kids to become responsible, government should address issues society is experiencing," he said.

"The law says we should have the children rehabilitated rather than punished. The law should be given teeth to pursue the guilty."

COMMUNITY PROBLEM, COMMUNITY SOLUTION

But more than the age, advocates said, a community problem involving CICL requires a community-based solution.

Barangay Culiat in Quezon City is among localities offering proof that the law, as it is, works.

The community has developed modules like "kwentong buhay" that give CICL a venue to share their life stories by way of theater. It also encourages positive discipline and helps create a nurturing environment for children-at-risk (CAR) and CICL.

Another creative approach is "Taginting ng Culiat" which produces windchimes and dreamcatchers, symbolic of the dream of rehabilitation for CAR and CICL.

"Napakalaki nung effect, kasi nung 2015, 304 yung aming cases. Nung nagkaroon kami ng ganong approaches kasama ang positibong disiplina campaign ay naging 140 last year," Barangay Councilor Cristina Bernardino said.

(The results have been significant. From 304 cases in 2015, with approaches such as the positive discipline campaign, the figure dropped to 140 last year.)

She noted, last year only 3 9-year old kids were apprehended for petty crimes including theft and slight physical injury.

Barangay Captain Victor Bernardo added, whereas the kids used to be problems in school and always missed classes, that's no longer the case.

"Kung ang bawat approach ng barangay sa mga batang nagbibigay ng problema ay basta galit na lang puro pagkokondena sa tingin ko lalong lalala, walang mababago sa kanila," he said.

(If barangays always responded to CICL with anger and condemnation, I don't think they would change.)

"We have one objective to deal with these issues, this problem ibigay ang best program for kids para di na sila maging repeat offender," noted Batta.

CASE STUDIES

Fifteen-year old "John" and 17-year old "Zian" benefited from the barangay's diversion programs such a theater arts and counseling.

"John" was suspended from school last year for attempting to hit his teacher with a monobloc chair. He blamed it on the rough treatment he was getting at home.

"Zian" turned to theft and drugs after getting mixed up with bad company. He also sired a child three years ago. He still laments the social stigma attached to his involvement in illegal activities, but given a fresh start in Culiat, he now hopes he and his child will have a better future.

"Pangarap ko po sa sarili ko makapagtapos ng pag-aaral, makapagtrabaho ng maayos para maiahon ang magulang ko sa hirap pati na rin iyung anak ko makapag-aral, para hindi nya ako gayahin," Zian said.

(I dream of finishing school, find work to help my parents rise from poverty, and give my child an education for he will not follow my bad example.)

Today, thanks to Culiat's diversion programs, John and Zian are taking their education seriously.

John, who turned to taekwondo for self-defense, is now training to compete. Zian, meanwhile, is being eyed as the poster boy of the city government's book on best practices in dealing with CAR and CICL.

IMPROVE IMPLEMENTATION

With government bent on bringing down the age of criminal liability, child advocates said, not only does the country risk setting-back gains made by the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act (R.A. 9344), it also risks going against international law like the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Instead of amending the law, child advocates sid, government should improve implementation, and build the capacity of barangays to protect and reform CICL.

"Majority of LGUs, barangays do not implement the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act. The challenge is not to lower the age of criminal liability but to empower and capacitate the LGUs especially barangays who have been given the mandate by the JJWA to provide the intervention and the programs for children," said Abitria.

Batta admitted, some implementors and stakeholders do not have enough intervention and diversion programs in their respective areas.

"Government should find an alternative way to help kids reform, it should be restorative not punitive. If we want these kids to become responsible government should address issues society is experiencing," he added.

"It's not about the age, it is how government should help the families of these kids."