Despite moves to push through with a bill lowering the age of criminal liability from 15 years old to 9 years old, a bishop, some lawmakers and children’s advocates over the weekend said legislators are missing the big picture in treating children in conflict with the law.

“Legislators are misguided in painting a picture of rampant criminality supposedly primarily instigated by children. This is a myopic view of the situation that utterly disregards the reasons why children are actually forced in situations where they commit wrongdoing,” Child Rights Network Philippines, an organization advocating for children’s rights in the country, said.