Friday, August 10, 2007 Duterte backs Acosta's anti-truancy ordinance By Grace L. Plata
DAVAO City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte is supportive of the re-proposed anti-truancy ordinance, which passed 1st reading in last Tuesday's session.
The controversial ordinance, authored by committee on education chair Ma. Belen Sunga-Acosta, was blocked during the 14th council by children rights advocates who were averse to the word "truancy," but the proposal was resurrected in the present council by the same proponent under a new and much longer name.
"Tama man nang truancy ni Mabel ba (Mabel’s truancy is right). Truant simply means a child who is not willing to go to school. What is so wrong with the term then? Ang problema man gud kay wala sila kabalo kung unsa ang history sa term (the problem actually is they don’t know the history of the term),” he said.
Pareho ra na sa (it’s the same with) juvenile delinquent. The word "delinquent" is from the Latin word "delinquere" meaning neglected. So when you say juvenile delinquent it means a child that is neglected. So ngano man nga dili nato na pwede gamiton (so, why can’t we used it), added Duterte.
Duterte said the anti-truancy ordinance only seeks to put a stop to the increasing number of children who do not go to and stay in school, thus there is nothing that is offensive about it.
