Mamamayang Liberal (ML) Party-list Rep. Leila de Lima has blasted Senator Robinhood "Robin" Padilla's bill that seeks to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility to 10 years old from the current 15 years old.

"Hindi kriminal ang bata. Ang batang naligaw ay hindi dapat kinukulong kundi kinakausap, inaaruga, at binibigyan ng pag-asa (A child is not a criminal. A lost child should not be imprisoned, but listened to, cared for, and given hope)," De Lima, a former Department of Justice (DOJ), said in a strong-worded statement Sunday, July 20.

"Lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 10 years old is not justice. It is abdication. It is a failure of imagination, of compassion, and of government," she said.

Padilla's measure seeks to amend Republic Act (RA) No. 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, removing criminal liability exemptions for offenders aged 10 to 17 who commit heinous crimes.

Padilla is a member of the so-called Duterte bloc in the Senate.

"We do not fix a broken justice system by putting its weight on the smallest, weakest shoulders. We fix it by asking hard questions: Bakit may batang nalululong sa krimen? Sino ang tunay na nakikinabang sa mga pagkakasalang ito? Saan tayo nagkulang bilang lipunan?" asked De Lima, a one-time senator.

(Why are children falling into crime? Who truly benefits from these transgressions? Where have we, as a society, failed?)

De Lima went on to describe Padilla's bill as anything but novel.

"Senator Padilla’s proposal is not new. It is a recycled idea that refuses to die, no matter how many times child rights advocates, neuroscientists, developmental psychologists, social workers, and human rights defenders have refuted it with facts, and compassion."

De Lima said the bill does not address crime; instead it "punishes trauma". She say "It does not protect society. It betrays children we have already failed."

"The law we already have—RA 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act—is clear, progressive, and rooted in restorative justice. What we lack is not legislation, but thoughtful implementation," said the ML congresswoman.

"As a former Secretary of Justice, I have seen what jails do to children. And I have seen what care, education, and structured rehabilitation can achieve. The difference is life-changing. Sometimes, life-saving," added De Lima.

"Kung ang sagot natin sa batang nadapa ay kulungan, hindi ang bata ang tunay na dapat usigin kundi ang sistemang wala nang malasakit (If our answer to a child who has stumbled is prison, then it is not the child who truly deserves to be condemned but the system that has lost its compassion)," she underscored.

De Lima then issued an appeal to her solon-colleagues from both the House and Senate.

"This is not a question of being 'soft' or 'tough' on crime. This is a question of who we are as a people. Are we the kind of nation that throws away a child before we even try to understand their pain? Let us stop treating children as threats. They are mirrors. If we don’t like what we see, it is not the mirror we must shatter. It is the reflection of our failures."