The latest Pulse Asia Survey shows that 55% of Filipinos favor keeping the minimum age of criminal liability at 15 years old.

The stance of the President, however, remains unchanged. Lowering the age of criminal liability is part of the legislative agenda of President Duterte as a means to ensure that the Filipino youth would accept responsibility for their actions and be subjected to government intervention programs. It will also protect them from being utilized by criminal elements as frontline perpetrators of criminal acts.

What the survey shows is that there is still a lot of work to be done, especially in explaining to Filipinos, on the rationale behind lowering the minimum age of criminal liability.