‘Spanking bad for children’

All the seven resource persons invited to give inputs in yesterday’s public hearing agree on the need to ban corporal punishment on children.

Dr. Naomi Poca, a child specialist of the Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center, said there is no study here or abroad that would prove the benefits of corporal punishment on children.

Corporal punishment do not teach any values to children except fear for his or her parents or whoever does the punishment.

Prohibited acts include pulling of a child’s hair, beating with or without the use of instruments, pinching or pulling and shaving a child’s hair or ears.

The draft ordinance also prohibits solitary confinement, exposure to harmful substance, neglect, verbal threats and humiliation.

Raddy Diola said the proponents of the draft ordinance also has to qualify when solitary confinement or verbal threats becomes a form of child abuse.

Tessie Fernandez, executive director of Lihok Filipina, said that the best form of discipline is for parents to be good examples for their children to follow.

Studies, according to Fernandez, found that children who experienced corporal punishment tend to lack in reasoning skills, low in IQ and would tend to engage in spousal abuse later in their lives.

Parents who commit violations, Poca said, should undergo counselling.

The proposed ordinance, authored by Councilors Leah Japson, Margot Osmeña, Alvin Dizon and John Philip Po II, metes punishment on parents, guardians and even teachers found to physically, emotionally and psychologically harm a child.