Duterte vetoes bill banning corporal punishment for children
Updated (4:51 p.m.)
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has vetoed the bill prohibiting corporal punishment for minors.
Duterte vetoed the bill titled “An Act Promoting Positive and Nonviolent Discipline, Protecting Children from Physical, Humiliating or Degrading Acts as a Form of Punishment” on Saturday.
The bill prohibits the infliction of all forms of humiliating or degrading punishment, including non-physical forms of violence such as intimidation, cursing, and ridiculing a child in public.
In his veto message released Thursday, Duterte agreed with Congress that “every child should be protected from humiliating forms of punishment.”
He even said the bill was a “salutary piece of legislation” but was quick to state his opposition to the bill.
“I am gravely concerned that the bill goes much further than this as it would proscribe all forms of corporal punishment, humiliating or not, including those done within the confines of the family home. I do not share such an overly sweeping condemnation of the practice,” he said.
“I am of firm conviction that responsible parents can and have administered corporal punishment in a self-restrained manner, such that the children remember it not as an act of hate or abuse, but a loving act of discipline that desires only to uphold their welfare,” he added.
The President cited that “undertaking corporal punishment has given rise to beneficial results for society, with countless children having been raised to become law-abiding citizens with a healthy respect for authority structures in the wider community.”
“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 broad stroke,” he said.
The chief executive believes that the bill would intrude into the privacy of Filipino families.
“Making no distinctions, the bill would allow the government to extend its reach into the privacy of the family, authorizing measures aimed at suppressing corporal punishment regardless of how carefully it is practiced,” he said.
“The bill, he said, “transgresses the proper boundaries of State intervention in the life of the family, the sanctity and autonomy of which is recognized by the Constitution.”
Duterte said he was “aware that there is a growing trend, prevalent in Western nations, that sees all forms of corporal punishment as an outdated form of disciplining children.”
“I strongly believe that we should resist this trend in favor of a more balanced and nuanced approach, one that is both protective of the child as well as cognizant of the prerogatives of devoted parents who believe in the merits of corporal punishment, rightly administered,” he said.
He said, “the cultural trends of other countries are not necessarily healthy for our own nation.”
In many instances, he said, “such trends are of doubtful benefit even for the very countries which originated and popularized them.”
“To uncritically follow the lead of these countries, especially in matters as significant as the family, would be a great disservice to the succeeding generations,” he said. “For these reasons, I hereby veto SB No. 1477/HB No. 4239.” /ee
READ: House OKs bill banning corporal punishment of children
READ: Senate OKs bill prohibiting corporal punishment for minors
