'Child bullying' video alarms group

MANILA, Philippines - A child rights group on Wednesday condemned the recent case of child bullying and abuse being circulated over various social networking sites  Facebook and YouTube.

Akap Bata partylist was refering to a video showing a man, identified as RJ Barbers Parenas, beating and bullying a child. 

To date, the Facebook video has been deleted due to a number of  complaints.

Akap Bata Party-List said the recent cases of bullying and physical abuse against children alarm and anger them as similar cases sharply increase in number and are becoming rampant.

Child advocates also said child abusers and bullies are now becoming even more aggressive as they now documenttheir misdeeds on videos and upload them over the internet.

"We are deeply worried to see this kind of videos and photos of kids being maltreated going viral on cyberspace even if we have existing laws criminalizing child abuse as the Republic Act 7610," Love Carlos, Akap Bata partylist national spokesperson, said.

"We challenge President Benigno Simeon Aquino III, the Social Welfare and Development Department, Commission on Human Rights, our law enforcers down to the community level through the local Councils for the Protection of Children to strictly implement our laws protecting every Filipino child against abuses," she added.

The group also wants the Aquino government to make this recent incident as a "test case" to prove that our children live in a society that will ensure their safety, rights and welfare at all cost.

"President Aquino must walk the talk now and start exerting more and decisive efforts to safeguard our children as the most vulnerable sector in our society," Carlos said. - Dennis Carcamo