(We yield this space to the statement of Save the Children Philippines’ due to its timeliness. – Ed.)
CHILDREN have the right to be protected from all forms of physical or mental violence; and it is the duty of the State to ensure this through various measures including the passage of appropriate laws and policies such as the proposed Positive and Non-Violent Discipline Act. This is part of the State’s commitment as stated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which was ratified in 1990.
The Council for the Welfare of Children’s data shows that physical and psychological violence particularly in the home setting remains to be the most pervasive type of violence experienced by Filipino children. The National Baseline Study on Violence against Children reveals that three in five children experience some form of physical violence. Sixty percent of these cases happen in the home with one in two children experiencing corporal punishment. About 4.6 percent lead to the hospitalization of children. The report also showed the lifetime prevalence of psychological violence during childhood estimated at 59.2 percent. This indicates that almost three out of five children have been verbally abused, threatened and/or abandoned by their parents or guardian.
The proposed Positive and Non-violent Discipline Act could have provided the necessary mandate for government agencies and local government units to establish programs and services to help parents, caregivers, teachers and others involved in taking care of children to learn how to practice positive and non-violent discipline. Research shows that disciplining children using positive and non-violent means lead to: (1) better child-development and well-being; (2) better academic performance; and (3) better family relationships.
Not many parents actually believe that physical punishment is necessary for child rearing but they still resort to physical and humiliating punishment because they have been raised to think this is how children should be disciplined and have no experience or exposure to effective and non-violent alternatives.
Enacting the proposed Positive and Non-violent Discipline Act could have been a good opportunity towards providing children with the full protection they need in all settings including the home, where they should feel safest and loved and where they can go for support when feeling unsafe in their schools and communities. The passage of the proposed policy would have contributed to changing social norms that accept physical and psychological violence in disciplining children, which is critical in ending the cycle of violence in the society.
If the State is true to its commitment to “defend the right of children to…special protection from all forms of neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to their development” as stated in the Philippine Constitution, it would have enacted the proposed law that would put an end to an age-old practice that has been proven by research to do more harm to children.
