25/06/2026
⚠️ Trigger Warning: This post contains discussion of child abuse and physical violence against minors. Reader discretion is advised. Please be responsible and respectful in the comments.
SC CLARIFIES: PARENTAL DISCIPLINE BECOMES CHILD ABUSE WHEN PUNISHMENT IS EXCESSIVE AND DEGRADING
The Supreme Court has clarified that while parents have the right to discipline their children, that right is not absolute. When the punishment employed is excessive, violent, and disproportionate to the child's misconduct, it may constitute child abuse punishable under Republic Act No. 7610.
Hitting a child several times with a wooden rod embedded with a nail, pulling a child's hair, kicking, striking the head, and repeatedly beating another child with a dustpan were extreme forms of punishment that could not be considered reasonable parental discipline. These acts, the Court ruled, demonstrated an “intent to debase, degrade, and demean the children's intrinsic worth and dignity.”
-Associate Justice Jhosep Y. Lopez
Supreme Court, Second Division
July 22, 2024
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