Duterte: Corporal punishment produces law-abiding citizens
Published Feb 28, 2019 03:51 pm
By Argyll Cyrus Geducos
President Duterte believes that parents using corporal punishment to discipline their children turn them into law-abiding citizens and that the Philippines should not follow the trend of Western countries which sees the act as outdated.
President Rodrigo Duterte (JUAN CARLO DE VELA / MANILA BULLETIN)
In vetoing the consolidated Senate Bill No. 1477 and House Bill No. 8239, Duterte said that while he agrees that children should be protected from humiliating forms of punishments, he does not share the view that the scope of the measure should include the households.
"I do not share such an overly sweeping condemnation of the practice," Duterte said in his message. The measure seeks to protect minors from any form of violence at home, school, and other institutions.
According to the President, he believes that responsible parents can administer corporal punishment in a self-restrained manner that the child will remember it as a form of love and discipline, not as hatred and abuse.
"Such manner of undertaking corporal punishment has given rise to beneficial results for society, with countless children having been raised up to become law-abiding citizens with a healthy respect for authority structures in the wider community," he said.
"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 bad stroke," he added
Duterte also said that the measure would allow the government to breach a family's privacy.
"The bill transgresses the proper boundaries of State intervention in the life of the family, the sanctity and autonomy of which is recognized by the Constitution," he said.
Duterte then mentioned that the Philippines should resist seeing all forms of corporal punishment as a form of punishment as outdated like some Western nations.
He said that the country should favor a more balanced and nuanced approach, which is both protective of the child but recognizing the right of parents who believe in the merits of corporeal punishment properly administered.
"The cultural trends of other countries are not necessarily healthy for our own nation," Duterte said.
"Indeed, in many instances such trends are of doubtful benefit even for the very countries which originated and popularized them. 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," he added. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)
President Rodrigo Duterte (JUAN CARLO DE VELA / MANILA BULLETIN)
In vetoing the consolidated Senate Bill No. 1477 and House Bill No. 8239, Duterte said that while he agrees that children should be protected from humiliating forms of punishments, he does not share the view that the scope of the measure should include the households.
"I do not share such an overly sweeping condemnation of the practice," Duterte said in his message. The measure seeks to protect minors from any form of violence at home, school, and other institutions.
According to the President, he believes that responsible parents can administer corporal punishment in a self-restrained manner that the child will remember it as a form of love and discipline, not as hatred and abuse.
"Such manner of undertaking corporal punishment has given rise to beneficial results for society, with countless children having been raised up to become law-abiding citizens with a healthy respect for authority structures in the wider community," he said.
"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 bad stroke," he added
Duterte also said that the measure would allow the government to breach a family's privacy.
"The bill transgresses the proper boundaries of State intervention in the life of the family, the sanctity and autonomy of which is recognized by the Constitution," he said.
Duterte then mentioned that the Philippines should resist seeing all forms of corporal punishment as a form of punishment as outdated like some Western nations.
He said that the country should favor a more balanced and nuanced approach, which is both protective of the child but recognizing the right of parents who believe in the merits of corporeal punishment properly administered.
"The cultural trends of other countries are not necessarily healthy for our own nation," Duterte said.
"Indeed, in many instances such trends are of doubtful benefit even for the very countries which originated and popularized them. 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," he added. (Argyll Cyrus B. Geducos)