Disinformation infiltrated online arguments on the juvenile justice law following the June 22 school shooting in Tacloban City that killed three and injured at least 20.

An analysis by data forensics group The Nerve of public Facebook posts that discussed the incident found dozens that insinuated that, because of the law, the minors tagged in the shooting won’t face punishment. These posts, coming from accounts that support the Dutertes, such as that of expelled congressman Kiko Barzaga, subsequently pinned the blame on Senator Kiko Pangilinan, who sponsored the bill.

This came with renewed proposals to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility, which experts warned does not prevent children from perpetrating crime.

Minors involved won’t be punished? 

Through content and narrative analysis solution Probe, The Nerve looked into more than 9,000 public Facebook posts from profiles, pages, and groups that tackled the shooting incident over the past week.

Around 11% of these posts formed conversations on the juvenile justice law.

The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006, or Republic Act No. 9344, as amended by RA No. 10630, contains policies concerning children in conflict with the law (CICLs).

Senator Kiko Pangilinan, on the day of the incident, called for appropriate sanctions for the two minors tagged in the shooting. “We can’t let go of those involved, even if they’re minors. They need to go through the process as mandated by law,” he wrote in Filipino on Facebook. 

Pangilinan was one of the sponsors of RA No. 9344. He authored RA No. 10630, which was passed in 2013.

Media reports on his statement were met primarily with “Haha” reactions on Facebook.

The day after, on June 23, several posts began insinuating that, because of the same law, the two minors tagged in the deadly school shooting would escape accountability, pinning the blame on Pangilinan.

“HINDI AGAD MAKUKULONG DAHIL SA BATAS NA IPINASA NOON NI KIKO PANGILINAN 💔😭 (Imprisonment is not immediate because of the law authored by Kiko Pangilinan),” started some of these posts, which have been shared at least 17 times and have garnered more than 8,000 engagements. These were published by accounts with a post history that supports the Dutertes.

Among these actors was none other than expelled congressman, Duterte ally, and persistent disinfo peddler Kiko Barzaga, who also blamed Pangilinan and the juvenile justice law for the shooting incident. 

Facebook posts in The Nerve’s analysis that featured Barzaga contained false claims that the law prevents minors from being apprehended when they commit crimes.

Some posts even went out of their way to produce AI-generated images of Pangilinan, along with ally Senator Risa Hontiveros, together with the minors involved in the shooting.

One of the posts was shared to a group dedicated to supporters of Vice President Sara Duterte.

Contrary to these posts, the juvenile justice law details various forms of punishment for CICLs, depending on their age. Read more about it here.

Authorities have filed criminal complaints against the 15-year-old student tagged in the incident, while the other 14-year-old learner will undergo an intervention program, according to Tacloban City police. 

“[The incident] has caused considerable public concern because many people equate accountability with punishment. Yet the law does not simply allow the children to walk away,” criminology professor Raymund Narag emphasized in an opinion piece.

Reignited talks

With proliferating disinformation on the juvenile justice law and Pangilinan came hundreds of posts renewing discussions on lowering the minimum age of criminal responsibility. The juvenile justice law currently establishes this at 15 years old.  

Several of these posts featured another Duterte ally, Senator Robin Padilla, who proposed to lower the set age to 10 years old in the aftermath of the shooting. These posts have garnered more than 300,000 engagements.

Former president Rodrigo Duterte had pushed to lower the age of criminal liability to 9 years old. In 2019, in the middle of his administration, a House committee approved a bill seeking just that. This sparked criticisms from experts, protests from rights groups, and an online petition calling for the bill to be withdrawn.

Ritz Lee Santos III of Amnesty International on June 23 reiterated a similar warning, saying that exposing children to harsher punishment “can only further harm and increase the likelihood of reoffending,” and does not address minors’ access to guns, knives, and other harmful weapons.  

“This tragedy must not be exploited to revive failed and dangerous proposals to lower the minimum age of criminal responsibility or further weaken the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act. Such knee-jerk reactions fail to address the root causes of harm and place more children at risk,” Santos said.

“When governments respond to social harm only through punishment, only the poor and vulnerable children are affected in most cases,” the director added. – Rappler.com

Probe is a content and narrative analysis solution developed by The Nerve’s award-winning team of data forensics experts. This enables brands and organizations to analyze thousands of posts across all online platforms and decode visual narratives with advanced image intelligence. To learn more, email hello@thenerve.co.