There is no argument that the welfare of children is the concern of everybody, including the state, and that everything must be done to ensure their protection and wellbeing. Perhaps, because of this, a new bill seeking to protect children from all forms of physical or mental violence, injury and neglect has passed the committee level at the House.
That means the proposed Positive Discipline Act of 2011 has moved a step closer to becoming a law. The problem with this law, and all others of similar intent before it, is that too much emphasis is placed on the sought-for effects and not much regard on whether pitfalls happen to be strewn along the way.
For example, the proponents of the law and the others before it all appear to be blind to the fact that times have changed and that the children of today no longer think, speak and act according to our common perception of how children should think, speak and act. The children of today, exposed to too much adult realities, have matured far too early for their age.
In Cebu City for instance, there exists marauding gangs of boys and girls no more than 12 years old who have come to fully understand that their youthfulness allows them the unique protection of the law and therefore have become untouchable even if they commit crimes.
And so these children have come to ganging up and assaulting unsuspecting individuals, especially tourists. Groups of five to 10 of these children surround their victims, holding on and clinging to them, and by their sheer number and determination overpower and immobilize them as they divest their hapless victims of everything of value they can take.
Time and again these children have been taken into custody and time and again they have been released. Each time, the reason for their release is the same: Child welfare and protection laws make them virtually untouchable. And believe it or not, these are not the children that the proponents of child welfare and protection laws had in mind.
Who the well-meaning lawmakers have in mind are children of a bygone era, children who still kiss the hands of potentially abusive adults. Fewer and fewer children of that kind exist today. And with adults fully aware of the consequences of falling afoul with the law, fewer abuses have actually been committed. What we have instead are overprotected and overindulged kids who abuse their privilege.