RESPONSIBLE parents who want to instill discipline among their children have the right to administer corporal punishment in a "self-restrained manner," President Rodrigo Duterte said.

This was the President's remarks in his February 23 letter addressed to Senate President Vicente Sotto III and House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, as he explained his decision to veto a bill promoting "positive and non-violent discipline" among children.

In his veto message, Duterte said he acknowledged Congress's efforts to push for a "salutary piece of legislation" that seeks to protect children from "humiliating forms of punishment."

He, however, expressed "grave" concerns that the proposed measure would forbid "all forms" of corporal punishment.

"I am gravely concerned that the bill goes much further than this as it would proscribe all forms of corporal punishment, humiliating or not, including those done within the confines of the family home. I do not share such an overly sweeping condemnation of the practice," the President said.

"On the contrary, I am of firm conviction that responsible parents can and have administered corporal punishment in a self-restrained manner, such that the children remember it not as an act of hate or abuse, but a loving act of discipline that desires only to uphold their welfare," he added.

The Chief Executive believed that corporal punishment has given rise to "beneficial results" for society, noting that "countless children [have] been raised up to become law-abiding citizens with a healthy respect for authority structures in the wider community."

Duterte also stressed that despite Western nations' belief that corporal punishment is an "outdated form of disciplining children," he believed that following such trend would bring "great disservice to the succeeding generations."

"The cultural trends of other countries are not necessarily healthy for our own nation. Indeed, in many instances such trends are of doubtful benefit even for the very countries which originated and popularized them," he said.

"To uncritically follow the lead of these countries, especially in matters as significant as the family, would be a great disservice to the succeeding generations," he added.

The proposed measure from Congress prohibits any form of punishment of children using physical force and intended to cause pain or discomfort or any non-physical act that causes a child to feel belittled, denigrated, threatened, or ridiculed.

Duterte said the bill places such responsible disciplining of children "in the same category as humiliating and degrading forms of punishment, and condemns them all in one broad stroke."

"Making no distinctions, the bill would allow the government to extend its reach into the privacy of the family, authorizing measures aimed at suppressing corporal punishment regardless of how carefully it is practiced," he said.

"In so doing, the bill transgresses the proper boundaries of State intervention in the life of the family, the sanctity and autonomy of which is recognized by the Constitution," he added. (SunStar Philippines)