Duterte vetoes measure shielding children from corporal punishment

President Duterte has vetoed a measure that seeks to protect children from any form of violent means to discipline them, whether at home, in school, or in any other institution.

The consolidated Senate Bill No. 1477 and House Bill No. 8239 –

The Positive and Non-Violent

Discipline of Children Act or what is called the Anti-Palo Bill – seeks to protect minors from beating, kicking, slapping, and all forms of physical abuse done by their parents.

In vetoing the consolidated measure, President Duterte said that while he agrees that children should be protected from humiliating forms of punishments, he does not share the view that the scope of the measure should include the households.

“I do not share such an overly sweeping condemnation of the practice,” Duterte said in his message. The measure seeks to protect minors from any form of violence at home, school and other institutions.

According to the President, he believes that responsible parents can administer corporal punishment in a self-restrained manner that the child will remember it as a form of love and discipline, not as hatred and abuse.

“Such manner of undertaking corporal punishment has given rise to beneficial results for society, with countless children having been raised up to become law-abiding citizens with a healthy respect for authority structures in the wider community,” he said.

“Regrettably, this bill places such responsible disciplining of children in the same category as humiliating and degrading forms of punishment, and condemns them all in one bad stroke,” he added

Duterte also said that the measure would allow the government to breach a family's privacy.

“The bill transgresses the proper boundaries of State intervention in the life of the family, the sanctity and autonomy of which is recognized by the Constitution,” he said.

On Thursday, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea confirmed that Duterte vetoed the measure. Malacañang is yet to release an official copy of Duterte's veto message.

According to Medialdea, Duterte wants parents to have the authority over their children, especially when it comes to disciplining them.

"Yung paternal authority sa bata nandoon [sa mga magulang], sila unang magdi-discipline sa mga anak nila. 'Wag lang yung sobra (Parents should be the first to discipline their kids. As long as it is not excessive),” he said.

“Alangan namang ikaw papabayaan mo anak mo iba bubogbog (You won't allow other people to hurt your kids),” he added.

The Anti-Palo Bill aims to implement a comprehensive program to promote positive and non-violent discipline instead of physical, humiliating, or degrading acts as a form of discipline of children.

Physical, humiliating, or degrading acts, according to the bill, are forms of punishment or discipline in which “physical force is used and intended to cause pain or discomfort or any nonphysical act” that causes children to feel belittle, denigrated, threatened, or ridiculed.

Under the measure, non-physical forms of violence such as intimidation, cursing, and ridiculing a child in public are likewise prohibited.

According to former top presidential aide Christopher Go, one of President Duterte's reasons for vetoing the measure is the President does not want to follow growing trends in Western nations that see all forms of corporal punishment as an outdated form of disciplining children.

He added that Duterte is in favor of a more balanced and nuanced approach, which is both protective of the child but recognizing the right of parents who believe in the merits of corporeal punishment properly administered.

The bill says that violators may be brought to attention of the barangay or the police, The barangay captain is mandated to determine the category in which the committed act falls under, and determine what actions should be taken.

However, House assistant majority leader Rep. Bernadette Herrera-Dy, who authored the bill, clarified that parents found violating provisions of the bill will not face any jail time.

“Children cannot invoke this law to get back at their parents by sending them to jail. However, if the case is child abuse or sexual abuse, that is a much more serious matter with jail time consequences,” she said.