Labella Sees Need to Review Juvenile Justice Law After Arrest of Minor with P6-M Shabu

(PNA) — Cebu City Vice Mayor Edgar Labella said there is a need for legislators to review the law on juvenile delinquents after the police arrested a 14-year-old girl believed to have been used as a drug mule and seized from her some P5.9 million worth of shabu.

Anyone who is 15 years old or younger is exempted from criminal liability under Republic Act No. 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.

Those who are above 15 years old up to 18 may be held criminally liable if there’s proof that they acted with discernment in committing a crime.

“The amendment of the law is long overdue. Nothing has been done and it has contributed largely to the crimes,” Labella said.

Police arrested the 14-year-old girl in a buy-bust operation in Labangon, Cebu City Saturday night.

The girl’s arrest alarmed law enforcers, who say there is a rising trend among drug dealers to let minors do their dirty work.

Supt. Romeo Santander, head of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) City Intelligence Branch (CIB), said the police will still file a case against the girl, in the hope that what happened will serve as a lesson to others.

“We won’t let this opportunity slip. We want others to take notice that they cannot just use children for their activities,” he said.

Senior Supt. Conrado Capa, deputy regional director for operations of the Police Regional Office (PRO) 7, described the increase use of minors in illegal activities as alarming.

“They are supposed to be at school or playing with friends, instead of being exposed to illegal activities,” he said.

Last July, two teenage sisters were arrested by police for allegedly peddling Nubain during a buy-bust in Barangay Kamagayan, also in Cebu City.

The girls, 15 and 13, were caught with 63 ampules of Nubain worth P12,600.

Nubain or nalbuphine hydrocholoride, a painkiller, was reclassified as a dangerous drug in 2011. (PNA) SCS/EB