Ejercito lauds new law requiring child seats in vehicles

MANILA, Philippines — Senator JV Ejercito on Thursday lauded the signing into law of a measure that requires car owners to use a child restraint system in vehicles.

President Rodrigo Duterte has signed Republic Act No. 11229, or the Child Safety in Motor Vehicles Act, which calls for the protection of children and infant passengers of land vehicles.

READ: Duterte signs law requiring car seats for children in vehicles

Ejercito, who pushed the measure in the Senate and was the principal author and sponsor of the bill, said he considers the law as “one of the most valuable laws we have ever crafted.”

“This is good news. The child protection measure that I had pushed in the Senate is now a law,” Ejercito, who seeks reelection in the 2019 elections, said in a statement.

“As a father who deeply cares for the health and well-being of our citizens, especially our children who are the future of this nation, I welcome and consider this as one of the most valuable laws that we have ever crafted,” he added.

Under the new law, it is illegal for a driver not to properly secure a child in a child restraint system (CRS) while the engine is running or transporting a child.

A CRS, the law stated, refers to “a device capable of accommodating a child occupant in a sitting or supine position,” which is “designed to diminish the risk of injury in the event of a collision or of abrupt deceleration of the vehicle by limiting the mobility of the child’s body.”

It said the CRS should be appropriate for the child’s age, height, and weight.

“It reduces the likelihood of a road crash fatality by approximately 70 percent among infants, and between 54 percent and 80 percent among young children,” Ejercito said.

Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, the senator said that from 2006 to 2014, 5,960 children died due to road accidents. This is an average of 662 deaths per year or 55 deaths per month, one death per day, Ejercito said. /ee