Overprotective father charged with child abuse for hitting boy

MANILA, Philippines—An ardently protective father was charged with child abuse at the city prosecutor’s office late Friday afternoon after he allegedly hit and threatened his daughter’s nine-year-old classmate in an elementary school in Manila.

The Manila Police District Women’s and Children’s Protection Desk lodged a complaint of physical injuries in relation to Republic Act 7610 or the Anti-Child Abuse act against Arnel Morales, the father of a Grade 4 pupil at the Holy Heart Christian Academy on Diokno Street in Sta. Cruz.

The charge stemmed from allegations by his daughter’s classmate that Morales threw an umbrella at him, kicked, slapped and threatened him after he accidentally shoved the girl during rough child’s play on Thursday.

Women and child protection desk head Chief Insp. Anita Araullo told the Inquirer that the incident happened at around 3 p.m. Thursday. Morales had gone to the school to complain to teachers that the boy had allegedly mashed his daughter’s chest.

“Morales was talking with a teacher at the school when he spotted the boy descending the stairs.  He allegedly shouted at his daughter’s classmate and hurled an umbrella at him, hitting the boy on the leg,” Araullo said, adding that the teacher tried to stop Morales, reminding him he was speaking to a child, but he insisted on confronting the boy.

According to the boy’s statement, Morales ran after him on the stairs and started kicking him. “He kicked me on my elbow, hand and knee. When I was already at the foot of the stairs, he slapped me hard on the left side of my face and told me not to go to school anymore or he would take me to the barangay,” the boy said.

Araullo told the Inquirer that when she asked the boy if he knew why his classmate’s father had hurt him, the boy said, “I shoved his daughter, but it was an accident.”

His 42-year-old mother, of Sta. Cruz, Manila, told the Inquirer that Morales was angry at her son because his daughter had told him that the boy had mashed her chest during horseplay, she was informed by teachers.

“I asked my son if he knew what ‘nanghipo’ meant but he only gave me a puzzled look and asked me back what it meant,” she said.

She claimed that Morales intended to hurt her son further by throwing an umbrella at him again but his teacher interceded and asked the adult to leave.

“My son is just a child. He (Morales) should not have hurt him. He is already an adult. He is a large man. What if my boy had fallen down the stairs or what if he had killed him even by accident? Would he be able to replace my child’s life?” she told the Inquirer.