Child rights group hails approval of bill banning corporal punishment for minors

A children's rights advocacy group hailed on Tuesday passage of the bill that would protect children from physical and humiliating forms of punishment.

Child Rights Network (CRN), the biggest alliance of organizations pushing for children's rights legislation, said House Bill 8239 or the Positive and Non-Violent Discipline of Children Act would aid parents, teachers and caregivers in practicing positive discipline through a comprehensive program by the government and civil society organizations.

"The passage of this bill is a landmark paradigm shift from our long-held culture of inflicting violence to discipline children," CRN said in a press release.

"We believe that in providing a clear legal framework, our society can change the tradition of inflicting violent punishment against children, which statistics prove to remain prevalent in the Philippines," it added.

The proposed measure was approved by the House of Representatives on third and final reading on November 12, with a vote of 163-2.

The Senate version, Senate Bill No. 1477, was earlier approved on October 8. It was authored by Senators Risa Hontiveros, Grace Poe and Nancy Binay.

Aside from protecting children, the CRN noted that the bill would also provide mechanisms which will ensure that offenders will be handled accordingly as they will undergo rehabilitative therapies and seminars on positive discipline and anger management.

Moreover, children victims of physical punishment will also undergo counseling.

The CRN underscored that the passage of the bill was an important step towards the government's duty to ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and bad treatment by their parents or other people who look after them.

"We would like to stress that without this landmark piece of legislation, no existing Philippine law clearly protects children from physical, degrading, and humiliating forms of punishment, especially violence happening at home," the CRN stated.

"We strongly urge the enactment of a national law that clearly protects children from violence in all settings of our society," it added. — Anna Felicia Bajo/ LDF, GMA News