Senate Minority Leader Alan Peter Cayetano has called for a broader review of the factors influencing Filipino children following recent cases of school violence involving minors.
Cayetano said lawmakers should focus on preventing youth crime without treating children as hardened criminals, even as families of the victims continue to seek justice.
According to the senator, discussion should go beyond lowering the age of criminal liability and instead examine the environment shaping young people, including their exposure to social media, their communities, and conditions in schools.
“It’s really getting to a consensus of what law will be most proactive and relevant to us where we can protect our young people, not expose them to criminality, not treat them as hardened criminals, but also deter them and their parents from going into violence and violent crimes,” he said.
Cayetano also pointed to classroom congestion and shortened school hours as issues that deserve attention, saying many students now spend more time on the streets and online.
The senarorsßstressed that schools, homes, and churches should remain safe spaces for children and urged government and society to carefully study reforms that protect the country’s youth.IMT
