STOP INSTITUTIONAL CHILD ABUSE

 STOP INSTITUTIONAL CHILD ABUSE

My dear countrymen, the United States has adopted a new law to protect children who are residing in public facilities such as orphanages and juvenile detention centers. In the interest of bringing attention to this concern among our local lawmakers, I am featuring some quotations here from Microsoft Copilot.

START QOUTE 1: The Stop Institutional Child Abuse Act is a significant piece of legislation aimed at protecting children in youth residential programs. It was introduced in the spring of 2023 and has recently passed both the Senate and the House of Representatives

The study will be carried out by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and will include input from various stakeholders, including those with lived experience in institutional care. The act also aims to bring greater transparency and oversight to these facilities, particularly regarding the use of restraints and seclusion rooms as forms of punishment.

START QUOTE 2: Institutional child abuse in the Philippines is a significant concern, affecting many children in various settings such as schools, orphanages, and religious institutions. Despite efforts to protect children's rights, cases of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse continue to be reported.

A study highlighted that violence against children in the Philippines is often influenced by cultural factors and the historical context of the country. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) has documented an increase in cases of child abuse and neglect over the years

And so, there you have it. institutional child abuse is real and is happening in the Philippines, and yet it is not reported in the mass media, and neither does our own Congress conduct hearings about it. The new American law mandates their Department of Health and Human Services to conduct a study to find out more about the problem. In our case however, perhaps we could mandate the Department of Social Warfare and Development (DSWD) to oversee our own study, and then the DSWD could ask the Philippine Institute of Development Studies (PIDS) or the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) to conduct the actual study.

It is worthwhile to note that the celebrity Paris Hilton was instrumental in the passage of the new law, because she lobbied hard for it, having been a victim of abuse herself. What do we have to do to have a similar law passed in the Philippines? Do we have to look for our own celebrity who could lead our own lobby? I am hoping that by publishing this letter, someone can come forward to lead the lobby. Possibly, it could either be an individual or an NGO that could lead. Perhaps the DSWD, through the Committee for the Special Protection of Children that it chairs could lead it on their own initiative, if not the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC)? Your friend, IKE SENERES/12-24-24/visit my blog senseneres.blogspot.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOW IS THE CRIME RATE COMPUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES?

HOW IS THE CRIME RATE COMPUTED IN THE PHILIPPINES? When we talk about the crime rate in the Philippines, we often assume that the figures we see are accurate reflections of reality. But have we ever paused to ask—how exactly is the crime rate computed? Where does this data come from, and how reliable is it? The computation of the crime rate in the Philippines is officially handled by the Philippine National Police (PNP). The formula itself is straightforward: Crime Rate = (Total Reported Crimes / Total Population) x 100,000 This simple equation gives us the number of crimes per 100,000 people, allowing for fair comparison across regions and time periods. However, the reality behind these numbers is more complex than it appears. Data from the Ground The foundation of our national crime rate is empirical data collected at the grassroots level—from individual police stations scattered across the country. Every reported crime is logged in local police blotters, forming the buil...
Read more

GREY AREAS IN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS

GREY AREAS IN GOVERNMENT FUNCTIONS Dear Mr. President: May I ask who is going to be the arbiter or referee whenever there are overlaps in functions between two or more government agencies? I imagine that there would be no problem if these agencies would just cooperate and collaborate with each other, but what if they are unable to settle their differences and they would just end up throwing blame at each other or finger pointing at each other? Allow me to cite some examples. Who is supposed to take the lead in waste to energy projects? Is it supposed to be the DENR that is supposed to handle waste? Or is it supposed to be the DOE that is supposed to handle energy generation? Or is it supposed to be the DILG since it is the one that could direct or influence the waste to energy projects of LGUs? Who is supposed to take the lead in producing and promoting the use of biofuels? Is it supposed to be the DA, since the production of biofuels is supposed to be all about planting biofuel ...
Read more

LOCALIZED FREE AMBULANCE SERVICES

LOCALIZED FREE AMBULANCE SERVICES As it is supposed to be, anyone in the Philippines should be able to dial 911, and a telephone operator should be able to dispatch fire, rescue, ambulance and police (FRAP) units as soon as possible, based on acceptable response times. I invented the FRAP acronym for easy recall, and I hope it sticks, if there is no other alternative. Unfortunately, due to a mixture of technical and political reasons, the Philippines has not adopted 911 as a national number, because some LGUs would rather use their own three-digit numbers such as 117 and 168. I actually proposed a technical solution to that problem, but it was not adopted either. For whatever it is worth, my solution is to install a call forwarding system that could route all calls to a central operator, regardless of what number is dialed. It is very sad for me to know that up to now, even if our country is already over one hundred years old, there are still many LGUs that do not have fire trucks. it ...
Read more