(MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)
The Child Rights Network (CRN) and the Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) identified the proposed legislations as those on “Anti-Child Rape Bill,” “Prohibition of Child Marriage” and the “Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention.”
The two non-governmental organizations said that last Dec. 1, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading House Bill 7836 which provides for stronger protection against rape, sexual exploitation, and abuse and increasing the age for determining the commission of statutory rape from below 12 to below 16 years.
They said HB 7836 “contains potent provisions which include increasing the age to determine statutory rape from below 12 to below 16, equalizing the protection for victims of rape, whether a boy or a girl, and the removal of marriage as forgiveness exemption where the perpetrator is freed of legal responsibility if the perpetrator marries the person he rape
(Juan Carlo de Vela / MANILA BULLETIN)
IPRI, a global group that initiates protection of indigenous peoples, cited the case of the 19 Lumad children who were taken by members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) from the Talamban Campus of the University of San Carlos in Cebu City on allegations that they were engaged in “warfare training.”
It said the Lumad children are now under the custody of the PNP, while seven others are detained and charged with kidnapping and serious illegal detention offenses.
It lamented that Lumad schools have long been attacked and threatened based on the government’s “baseless reports” linking them to terrorist groups.
The Child Rights Network (CRN) has asked the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to help secure the Lumad children who were reportedly “rescued” by the Philippine National Police (PNP) last February 15 in Cebu City.
SunStar
+ February 15, 2021 CLARK FREEPORT The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), together with other member-agencies of the Inter-Agency Council Against Child Pornography (ICACP), led the celebration of the Safer Internet Day Philippines (SIDPH) on February 13.
The SIDPH celebration, mandated through Presidential Proclamation 417, is one of the strategies of the government, through the ICACP, to create public awareness on the need to ensure the protection of children from risks and abuses brought by misuse of cyberspace, or lack of awareness on internet safety.
The celebration, which carried the theme Bagong Normal: Ligtas na
Internet for all, entered on the recently signed Child Online Safe Guarding Policy under Republic Act 10929 or the Free Internet Access in Public Spaces.
QUEZON CITY, Feb. 9 — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), together with other member-agencies of the Inter-Agency Council Against Child Pornography (ICACP), will lead the celebration of the Safer Internet Day Philippines (SIDPH) on February 13 with a virtual kick-off.