Jonathan Frederic De Santos

Children In Conflict With The Law at a Bahay Pag-asa.

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Harlene Delgado

ABS-CBN News

VANCOUVER, Canada — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants a careful study of calls to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 12 that have been revived in the wake of the Tacloban City school shooting in June.The shooting at San Jose National High School left three teens dead and 13 others injured and has also prompted calls to regulate social media and for <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/7/2/doj-wants-law-vs-nihilistic-violent-extremism-after-tacloban-school-shooting-1610">a law to address recruitment into &#x27;nihilistic violent extremism&#x27;.</a>&quot;We have to study it further,&quot; he said of calls to lower the age that children can be charged and prosecuted for crimes.&quot;‘Yung ating mga child psychologists, ‘yung mga surveys na ginagawa about the mental health of children. Kailangang pag-aralang mabuti ‘yan,&quot; Marcos Jr. told reporters here in Vancouver Saturday, July 4, as he wrapped up his four-day official visit.(We have to carefully study what our child psychologists, our surveys on children&#x27;s mental health say.)The current minimum age of criminal responsibility is 15, with younger offenders put in intervention programs and counseling.The chief executive underscored the need to consider experts’ opinions on the effects of social media exposure on children’s behavior “because if we are lowering the age of responsibility for such crimes, then it would imply that children have changed from before.&quot;<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/nation/2026/6/27/juvenile-justice-and-welfare-how-does-the-law-punish-a-minor-1211">Juvenile justice and welfare: How does the law ‘punish’ a minor? </a></div>He acknowledged that social conditions may have changed since laws like the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act were passed. Marcos Jr. lamented the potential effects of social media, such as the sexualization of young people and the desensitization to killing and violence among minors through violent games.He said policy must consider &quot;some of the opinions of our experts who make it their life&#x27;s work to study the psychology of children, the effect of social media on children, and their actions that they do when they are not playing those games.&quot;<div><a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/technology/2026/7/3/dict-stakeholders-set-to-create-twg-vs-violent-online-games-2028">DICT, stakeholders set to create TWG vs violent online games </a></div>The president noted that the controversial mobile and computer game Gorebox has already been banned in the country after investigations showed that one of the Tacloban school shooters was an avid fan of the game.He also agreed to ban games that are clearly “responsible for the desensitization of our children to violence.”“I think we should ban them. And we will ban them,” Marcos Jr. said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants a careful study of calls to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 12 that have been revived in the wake of the Tacloban City school shooting in June.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. wants a careful study of calls to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 12 that have been revived in the wake of the Tacloban City school shooting in June.

Marcos: Studies, experts’ input needed on lowering age of criminal responsibility

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Marcos: Studies, experts’ input needed on lowering age of criminal responsibility

Harlene Delgado,

ABS-CBN News

Published July 05, 2026 09:53 AM PHT

Read More:

Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

Minimum Age of Criminal Responsibility

Children in Conflict with the Law

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