I hope this pushes through...
House bill filed vs parents, guardians in child exploitation
By Maila Ager
INQUIRER.net
Last updated 02:55pm (Mla time) 07/09/2007
MANILA, Philippines -- A bill seeking to penalize parents, foster parents or guardians, who allow their children to engage in begging and prostitution, has been filed at the House of Representatives.
Manila Representative Jaime Lopez filed House Bill 300 or “An Act penalizing parents, adopters, guardians, or persons exercising special or substitute parental authority over children under parental authority found to be engaged in begging and/or prostitution for other purposes.”
The bill proposes a penalty of “arresto mayor” for those found guilty of the said offense, “whether the intent is to give pecuniary benefit to the child, harness him or her family’s sustenance, or simply to let the child fend for him or herself.”
“Parents, adopters, guardians or persons exercising special or substitute parental authority over the child who shall use, coerce, intimidate, or force their children to beg or engage in prostitution shall suffer the penalty of prison correctional,” according to the bill.
“The penalties shall be one degree higher than that imposed herein when the victim is less than twelve years of age,” it added.
At present, there are existing laws, like the International Declaration of the Rights of the Child, which provide for deterrence and special protection against child abuse, exploitation, and discrimination.
Lopez noted however that the biggest stumbling block to make these laws effective were the parents, who renege on their legal and moral obligation, to the child, who is allowed to beg and roam in the streets presumably to meet the necessity of family or augment the family sustenance.
“Thereby, creating a permanent damage to the development of the child,” Lopez said.
The state of poverty should not be countenanced as an excuse to exploit the child, said Lopez.
“The social malady should be everybody’s concern, but foremost, the family of the child should bear the primary responsibility to raise him not as a beggar or child prostitute but as a respectable and productive citizen of the country,” he said.
“The parents who defaults on his or her responsibility to the child by allowing the child to beg or engage in the *** trade or the illegal undertaking should not be condoned by society,” he stressed.
Lopez was quick to clarify though that the proposed measure was not meant to outlaw the poor but simply to make child exploitation illegal.
The bill also seeks to elevate the dignity of the child as well as the parents, who nurture the upbringing of the child, measured in terms of the capacity to give love and care without exploitation, said Lopez.
“To reiterate, we are not outlawing the poor. We are simply making exploitation illegal for the parents who allowed them to happen to their own children,” Lopez pointed out.