A bill prohibiting parents from using corporal punishment to discipline their children has been vetoed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
Malacañang on Thursday, February 28 released documents that showed the president vetoing the measure last February 23.
The measure seeks to promote “positive and non-violent discipline” and protect children from punishments that range from physical to degrading acts.
The bill also prohibits acts like kicking, beating, and slapping, as well as non-physical forms of violence like embarrassing a child in public and cursing.
According to Duterte, responsible parents can and have administer corporal punishment in a self-restrained manner, such that the children think of it not as “an act of hate or abuse” but “a loving act of discipline that desires only to uphold their welfare.”
“However, I am gravely concerned that the bill goes much further than this act as it would proscribe all forms of corporal punishment, humiliating or not, including those done within the confines of the family home. I do not share such an overly sweeping condemnation of the practice,” Duterte added.
Restrained corporal punishment has given rise to “beneficial results” for society, Duterte said. One benefit is seeing countless children “become law-abiding citizens with a healthy respect for authority structures in the wider community.”
“Regrettably, this bill places such responsible disciplining of children in the same category as humiliating and degrading forms of punishment and condemns them all in one broad stroke,” he said.
He further explained that such a bill would reportedly “extend its reach into the privacy of the family, authorizing measures aimed at suppressing corporal punishment regardless of how carefully it is practiced.”
Duterte also urged Filipinos to show resistance when it comes to the prevalent trend in western nations that sees all forms of corporal punishment as an outdated form of disciplining children. He maintained that cultural trends in other countries are not necessarily healthy for the Philippines.
“I strongly believe that we should resist this trend in favor of a more balanced and nuanced approach, one that is both protective of the child as well as cognizant of the prerogatives of devoted parents who believe in the merits of corporal punishment rightly administered,” Duterte said.
He added, “To uncritically follow the lead of these countries, especially in matters as significant as the family, would be a great disservice to the succeeding generations.”
