MANILA, Philippines — How about jailing adult elected public officials – with the mind of a nine-year-old – for pocketing a portion of their “pork”?

Foreign Affairs Secretary Teddy Locsin Jr. raised this question on Tuesday amid debates over a proposed law seeking to lower the minimum age of criminal liability from 15 to nine years old.

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The still unnumbered consolidated House bill was quickly and unanimously approved by the House justice committee on Monday.

READ: House panel swiftly okays lower age of criminal liability

“Don’t you think a person in his 40s-50s but w/ the mind of a 9 year old & yet is elected to public office & entitled to pork barrel—40% of which he pockets—should go to jail?” Locsin posted on Twitter.

Ok. Don't you think a person in his 40s-50s but w/ the mind of a 9 year old & yet is elected to public office & entitled to pork barrel—40% of which he pockets—should go to jail? Think about it. https://t.co/SXFBUlM0GO — Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) January 22, 2019

The country’s top diplomat earlier expressed opposition to holding children as young as nine years old criminally liable.

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“Children can commit crimes but lowering the age when they can be jailed at 9 will have pedophiles panting anxiously for the day they can call prison guards for take-out kids for sodomy. That is the only motivation for lowering the age of criminality to 9,” he tweeted last January 19.

Children can commit crimes but lowering the age when they can be jailed at 9 will have pedophiles panting anxiously for the day they can call prison guards for take-out kids for sodomy. That is the only motivation for lowering the age of criminality to 9. https://t.co/QFnn3Vo1RF — Teddy Locsin Jr. (@teddyboylocsin) January 19, 2019

The move to lower the age of criminal responsibility has divided public officials and earned condemnation by human rights groups.

READ: More senators oppose, some cold on lowering age of criminal liability

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READ: CHR, Unicef, rights groups protest: Why jail a 9-year-old?

/kga

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