Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano gave a speech on teaching children values at the Taguig City Hall on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023. (Photo from the Facebook page of I Love Taguig)
MANILA, Philippines — Teach children the correct values, and the country will have a good society.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano directed his message to parents and guardians during the flag ceremony on Monday at the Taguig City Hall with his wife, Mayor Lani Cayetano.
The senator spoke there as part of the activities celebrating National Oral Health Month.
“When we teach children to do what is right, we will have a good society until they grow old. But if what comes out of mouths is gossip or ridicule, and if we teach them while they’re young to lie and curse, we will have a problem,” the senator said in Filipino.
“We ask them to do all sorts of things with their hands, then we laugh at them. We ask them to say obscene words because it’s cute when kids say them. But when they become teenagers, you have a problem with them. They don’t want to go home because they’re partying. There are teenage pregnancies. They do drugs. Why? They grew up not knowing what is right and wrong,” he added.
The senator also urged people to show compassion for each other to help the country get through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I’m saying this because society has a toothache, and the whole body feels that toothache,” Cayetano said.
Schools have been mandated to have a values education program, and yet the Philippines ranked first among over 70 countries when it comes to bullying.