Manila, July 31 -- While the rest of the country reeled from the devastation brought by recent storms and the southwest monsoon (habagat)-causing widespread flooding, landslides, and displacement-a senator chose this moment to file a bill that would inflict further harm on countless Filipino children by lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility to just 10 years old.

It is strikingly ironic that Senator Robin Padilla, who knows firsthand the harsh realities of incarceration from his years in prison for illegal possession of multiple firearms, would now push to impose criminal liability on children as young as 10 years old who commit "heinous crimes." Heinous crimes include murder, infanticide, kidnapping and serious illegal dete...