Presumptive Speaker Pantaleon 鈥淏ebot鈥� Alvarez on Tuesday listed down the top three bills in President-elect Rodrigo Duterte鈥檚 incoming administration.
During the Meet the Inquirer Multimedia forum, Alvarez said as Speaker he would push for the passage of the bills that would reinstate death penalty, change the system of government to federal from unitary, and amend the Pangilinan law to lower the minimum age for criminal liability.
鈥淣umber one would be federalism. Number two, resorting to death penalty. And number three, the amendment to the Pangilinan law on juvenile delinquency,鈥� Alvarez said.
He said he would amend the Pangilinan law to bring back the minimum age for criminal liability from 15 years old to the original nine years old as stated in the Revised Penal Code.
Alvarez said he has received complaints that minors are being used by syndicates because they would escape liability because of their age.
鈥淲e received a lot of complaints from law enforcement agencies tungkol dun sa mga minors na hindi pwedeng i-charge. Tinaasan 鈥榶ung age ng 15.聽Originally I think it鈥檚 nine sa Revised Penal Code,鈥� Alvarez said.
鈥淚鈥檓 not questioning the law; it鈥檚 quite noble. But the problem is in its implementation. Nagkaroon tayo ng problema na 鈥榶ung mga 15 years old ginagamit ng mga syndicates for committing crimes. (We have a problem with 15-year-olds being used by syndicates for committing crimes.) I think we have to address that problem,鈥� he said.
搁贰础顿:听Alvarez seeks to lower age for minor offenders
The聽law聽called Juvenile Justice Welfare Act of 2006 or聽Republic Act 9344,聽authored by Sen. Francis 鈥淜iko鈥澛燩angilinan, stated that persons aged 15 years old and below cannot be imprisoned for heinous crimes such as rape and murder.
The聽law聽was amended in 2013 through the聽Republic Act 10630 which mandates for an intensive juvenile intervention and support center called 鈥淏ahay Pag-asa.鈥�
Although the聽law聽did not amend the minimum age of criminal liability, it however subjected the minor offender to a government intervention program.
The amended聽law聽states that a child above 12 years old up to 15 years old who committed聽parricide, murder, infanticide, kidnapping, serious illegal detention where the victim is killed or raped, robbery with homicide or rape, destructive arson, rape, or carnapping where the driver or occupant is killed or raped, as well as drug-related offenses, will be deemed a 鈥渘eglected child鈥� and mandatorily placed in the youth care faculty 鈥淏ahay Pag-asa,鈥� which is an聽Intensive Juvenile Intervention and Support Center.
The聽law聽also requires the minor offender to pay the civil liabilities for his or her offense.
Federalism
Alvarez said he would also push for complete revision of the 1987 Constitution to change the country鈥檚 system of governance from unitary to federal.
He said Duterte wanted to revise the charter completely through the constitutional convention, or through the election of delegates which would propose amendments to the charter to be ratified in a plebiscite.
搁贰础顿:听Federalism, war on crime top Duterte legislative agenda
Alvarez said he is looking at coinciding the election of delegates to the barangay elections this year, which he said he wanted to postpone for a few months.
He said the proposal to revise the constitution for a federal form of government would need go to through the usual legislative mill through the House committee on revision and amendments of laws.
鈥淢ayroong darating na barangay elections. Tingnan natin pwedeng isabay 鈥榶ung election of delegates ng con con para isang gastusan nalang. Baka pwede nating i-delay ng kaunti 鈥榶ung election ng barangay鈥� to save money for the government,鈥� Alvarez said.
(There will be barangay elections. Let鈥檚 see if we can have the election of delegates of the con con and the barangay elections at the same time so that we can cut costs. Maybe we can delay the barangay elections for a bit鈥� to save money for the government.)
Alvarez said under his proposed federal state, the Philippines will have different states that will have its own set of laws and even its own court system.
鈥溾�榊ung idea ko d鈥檡an, kung sa America, may courts sa bawat state and different set of laws in different states. Mayroong states na pwede ang same-sex marriage; 鈥榶ung iba may pabor sa abortion. Depende na sa culture and tradition nung isang state,鈥� Alvarez said.
(My idea is that in America, there are courts in every state and different set of laws in different states. There are states that allow same-sex marriage; there are others who are in favor of abortion. It depends on the culture and traditions of the state.)
He said through federalism, provinces and other administrative regions such as the Cordillera Administrative Region and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) will have the opportunity to manage its own economies.
鈥淐ordillera and ARMM, of course, magbabago 鈥榶un. Magkakaroon ng different states; mas gaganda pa 鈥榶ung mga privileges nila. (Cordillera and ARMM, of course, it will change. There will be different states; they鈥檒l have better better privileges.) They鈥檒l have the chance to manage their own economy, manage their own natural resources, chair their own destinies,鈥� Alvarez said.
As for death penalty, President-elect Duterte earlier said he would prefer death penalty by hanging.
READ: Duterte vows to restore death penalty for heinous crimes
Alvarez said he wanted these pieces of legislation passed within the first two years of the Duterte administration. JE