Child Rights Network (CRN), the largest alliance of children's rights advocates in the Philippines, has stressed the urgent need for the implementation of child protection measures and positive parenting campaigns in the response plan against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
It warned against the "ramifications" of the pandemic, which include the rising cases of violence against children (VAC).
It cited a series of "disturbing" VAC cases which were reported over the past few days like that of a father who placed his child inside a sack to discipline him but the child died due to suffocation.
It said that last April 20, an 18-year-old mother from Sitio Imelda, Barangay Upper Bicutan in Taguig City struck her one-year-old baby with a rattan stick to pacify him, but the baby died.
Last April 14, CRN said, a 12-year-old boy in Pasay City died after he was chased down by barangay tanods (village watchmen) in his area for reportedly violating quarantine protocols.
Also, it said a 12-year-old girl in Lucena City was reportedly raped by her father repeatedly, which resulted in her getting pregnant. The girl said the abuse started on Sept. 7, 2020.
"These series of worrying incidents highlight how children are proving to also be bearing the brunt of the economic hardships brought about by the long-running community quarantines," CRN Convenor Romeo Dongeto said in a statement.
"Often, child abuse happens at home and we fear that such cases are being underreported as a result of restricted mobility, violent discipline as a social norm, inactive child protection systems, and lack of awareness on how to report abuse cases," he said.
Thus, he said, the CRN is calling on the Committee for the Special Protection of Children, under the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to work with the Local Councils for the Protection of Children (LCPC) and the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) Women and Children Protection Desk (WCPD) to heighten protection efforts for children.
It also said the Barangay Councils for the Protection of Children (BCPCs) should be strengthened for them to quickly recognize, report, and refer identified cases of child abuse for immediate action.
Meanwhile, the CRN called on Congress to revive deliberations on House Bill 8239 the “Positive and Non-Violent Discipline of Children Bill,” which has already passed into law back in 2019 but was vetoed by President Duterte.
"We are now witnessing what child experts have warned in the past – that the culture of violence masquerading as disciplining children can and will have deadly ramifications. Child protection and positive parenting should also be on top of our legislators’ priority," Dongeto said.
"Back in 2019, we expressed fears that the President’s veto might even embolden parents and other individuals to further inflict violence in the guise of discipline, instead of providing a clear legal framework for our society to change the tradition of inflicting violent punishment against children. Now, those horrid predictions are horribly coming true," he lamented.
The goal of House Bill 8239 is to eliminate corporal punishment and other kinds of humiliating and degrading punishment of children in all settings and to promote positive and non-violent discipline of children, he said.
He stressed that government officials should not wait for another incident of child abuse to take place before drawing up and immediately rolling out a comprehensive child protection plan that includes all facets of child protection in the time of the pandemic.