Parental Rights Act pushed

FILE PHOTO: Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. (Photo from his Facebook account)

Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. filed House Bill No. 5718, or the Parental Rights bill, stressing the duty and responsibility of parents in raising children. Abante said God, not the state, gave parents the duty and responsibility to raise their young. But he did not explain any cogent need for his bill, especially since much of what he proposed is already part of the Civil Code of the Philippines, enacted in 1950, plus amendments, like the Family Code of 1987, and all the jurisprudence on the matter over the past 75 years. —JULIE M. AURELIO