Whether or not children below age 12 should be held liable was hotly debated in various fora. The growing discord and behavior of teenagers cause concern to the national agencies and the local communities. Barangay officials, under the law, are tasked to conduct an orderly, humane and objective assessment of children violating the various ordinance and their treatment. A child violating an ordinance requires specific handling and careful examination to protect their rights and welfare from abuses, threats, intimidation, and harassment, as well as the psychological effect of the process to a child from the investigation. Careful handling and professional care are what RA 9262 has in place to address this concern and correct the child’s infraction and guide the parents to the emotional and psychological impact on the child after undergoing investigation by the barangay’s lupon ng tagapamayapa. A composite mean of 1.64 was derived from respondents showing investigations and procedures in the barangay are done properly. The majority of the parent-respondents prefer summoning the parents of children offenders in the following infractions: physical injury, bullying, street drinking, and destruction of property. Meanwhile, violation of offenses like vandalism, robbery, shoplifting, extortion, threat, and violation of curfew should be locked up in the barangay hall.
Parents, Violence, Child Offender, Barangay Officials, Criminal Liability
License:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) International License.