President Duterte Vetoes the Anti-Palo Bill

We Asians are fond of discipline especially to our children. Especially Filipinos, a lot of Filipino parents look at discipline as something that can be done in a physical manner. This is why a bill that would demolish the idea of physically punishing children has been passed. However, our dearest President Duterte vetoes the bill.

President Duterte Vetoes the Anti-Palo Bill Authored by Senator Risa Hontiveros
Image was taken from The Philippine Star | PhilStar.com

Just yesterday, ABS-CBN news brought the news that our dear President was against this. President Rodrigo Duterte, apparently, vetoes the “anti-palo” bill or the Senate Bill No. 1477 which prohibits the beating of children and the youth. This would include all physical forms of abuse and punishment to discipline the young, the Malacañang said last Thursday, the 28th of February 2019.

The Malacañang said that the President vetoed this specific measure since the 23rd of February and it was just released yesterday.

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Who authored this specific bill?

The one who authored and sponsored the bill was Senator Risa Hontiveros. As per previous news, the Senator has made the bill since last year. The bill grows out to prohibit any adult in physically hurting or abusing children like kicking them, pulling their hair, and so on.

Senator Risa Hontiveros, the author of this specific measure, said that she just aims to promote nonviolent and positive discipline of parents to their children. This is the reason why the bill was passed and authored in the first place.

The measure was surely revoked as it was confirmed by Salvador Medialdea, Executive Secretary and as per him, no other details about why the bill was vetoed were readily available.

Pulse Asia, a research company in the Philippines, showed that a mere sixty-six (66) percent of parents discipline their children through corporal or physical punishment. This figure would translate to two (2) out of three (3) parents in total.

In conclusion, our dear President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed this bill maybe because it did not include specifics. However, the bill specified that any form of physical abuse to the children would dictate a specific parent or adult not abiding to the bill.

The bill also includes embarrassing a child in public, cursing them, etc.

Who knows? Maybe our President has his own hands as regards this specific bill? Maybe after a few modifications, he might approve it? Let’s stay tuned.

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