Bill to penalize parents who allow children to beg or engage in prostitution

Friday, 03 June 2011 09:14

Parents or guardians who allow their children to be used in solicitation or prostitution will soon be charged criminally.

Under House Bill 4555 authored principally by Rep. Carlo Lopez (2nd District, Manila), the penalty of one month to 6 months imprisonment shall be imposed upon the parents, adopter, guardians or persons exercising special or substitute parental authority over children under parental custody found to be begging or engaging in prostitution. The bill, to be known as the "Parental Sanction Law for Child Begging and Prostitution," provides the penalty of six months to six years jail term to the parents, adopters or guardians who coerce, intimidate, or force their children to beg or engage in prostitution.

The bill provides further that the penalty shall be one degree higher if the victim is under 12 years of age.

Lopez said the family of the child should bear the primary responsibility to raise him or her not as a beggar or child prostitute but as a responsible and productive citizen of the country.

"With this bill, we are not outlawing the poor, we are simply making child exploitation illegal for parents who allowed their children to beg or engage in the sex trade," Lopez said.

According to Lopez, "the International Declaration of the Rights of the Child, Republic Act 7610, and Article 332 of the Civil Code, provide for deterrence and special protection against child abuse, exploitation and discrimination; thus highlighting the State function to protect the children."

"The biggest stumbling block is 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 support or augment the family sustenance," Lopez said.

Under the bill, the children-victims shall be entrusted to the care of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) with due regard to eventual turnover to substitute parental authority under Article 216 of Executive Order 209 or the Family Code of the Philippines.

The bill mandates the DSWD to promulgate the necessary rules and regulations for the effective implementation of the proposed act.

"This measure shall 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," Lopez said.