In theory, the spare-the-rod bill, may be a well-intentioned bill.
However, the reality is that in the United States, that type of law has proven to be problematic.
This bill states that it wants to avoid the excessive use of force against a child. Of course, phrased in that manner, it would seem to be terrifically logical: No one would support brutalizing children.
However, the reality is that this bill will be abused.
For example, a child gets low grades in school. The parents tell the child that he/she must study rather than go out on Friday nights. The child picks up the telephone, calls the police, and tells them that his/her parents have been hitting him/her, calling him/her names, etc…
The police arrive and arrest the parents.
This is not a farfetched, ludicrous example. This type of thing has occurred frequently in the United States.
This bill goes on to offer up to P200,000 to the “victim,” in this case, the child who received low grades.
The “victim”?
Have a lucid moment.
This bill assumes that all parents are evildoers. It wrests control away from parents by subverting their authority to parent their own children.
It relegates parents to a position of subservience, requiring parents to provide for children they aren’t really allowed to parent.
Bills like this are predictable, politically correct nonsense that have become commonplace, emanating from the United States.
Filipinos are preoccupied with the idea that they must always emulate the behaviors, laws, etc. in the United States. This is almost amusing, given the fact that the United States routinely treats Filipinos as disenfranchised, subservient, Third World people who do nothing but fill a global labor need, while being compensated with slave wages.
The passage of this bill will turn parents into nothing better than conveyor belts.
—SEAN SHAWN,
r2d8r2d8@yahoo.com