President Duterte on Tuesday, Jan. 4, blamed vice presidential candidate Senator Kiko Pangilinan for the heightened criminality in the country because of a particular law the latter authored.

According to Duterte, young criminals have been emboldened by the “Pangilinan law” or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, which states that a child 15 years old and below at the time of the crime shall be exempt from criminal liability, subject to interventions as provided by the same law.

“Nakikita ninyo nag-i-snatch, takbo dito, takbo doon, nakukuha sa (You can see them snatch, run here, run there, it’s caught by the) camera. And do you know, I said, why they are so bold to do that, daring? Because they have been previously—sa (in their) experience nila, under the Pangilinan Law, hindi ka makulong (you can't be jailed),” he lamented during his taped public address aired on Tuesday night.

The President, who was Davao City mayor the time the law was passed, said he was okay with the previous version of the law where children below nine have no criminal liability while those below 12 will face the law depending on the assessment of the fiscal.

Children aged between 12 and 16 who committed crimes will have criminal liabilities already, Duterte noted.

READ: Duterte bares Pangilinan’s marital woes, lashes at senator for flawed juvenile justice law

The Chief Executive also expressed exasperation over the solons who passed the law, saying that the police now cannot process and detain young criminals.

“Actually, huwag kayong bumoto. Dalawa lang ‘yan: Gordon pati Pangilinan. Matagal na ‘yan diyan sa Senado. Tanggalin ninyo ‘yan kay (Don’t vote for them. There’s two: Gordon and Pangilinan. They’ve been there in the Senate a long time. Remove them),” he said.

Pangilinan is running as the opposition’s vice president while Senator Richard Gordon, who chairs the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee that led the inquiry in the Pharmally mess, is a reelectionist senator.

Duterte claimed that syndicates use the Pangilinan law to evade authorities, and that drug syndicates tap minors as “runners” because they know the police cannot touch them.

Pangilinan explained that the government did not fund and implement the law efficiently because young criminals should not just be released back to society but placed in a Bahay Pag-asa under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD).

There is, however, a lack of Bahay Pag-asa or halfway houses similar to the United States’ juvenile justice program.