MANILA, Philippines — The House of Representatives basic education panel on Tuesday greenlighted a bill aiming to protect teachers from blanket charges of child abuse by qualifying what actions fall under the exercise of their “discipline authority” inside the classroom.

The committee, led by Rep. Roman Romulo (Pasig City), approved in principle a measure that consolidates three bills—House Bills 364, 549 and 6940—to lay down "institutionalized support mechanisms" for teachers and school personnel on classroom management and discipline.

“While child protection is indispensable, teacher protection is also a must. To this end, this bill seeks to amend Republic Act 7610 or the Child Abuse Law insofar as any act committed by a teacher or school staff pursuant to the disciplinary rules and procedure issued by the Department of Education shall not be deemed as child abuse,” read House Bill 549, which the Makabayan bloc filed.

The consolidated bill aims to amend a section of the Child Abuse Law that appears to “sweep” all acts of student discipline under potential allegations of child abuse, which especially places teachers without the legal means to defend themselves in jeopardy.

A representative of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers - National Capital Region (ACT-NCR) said that in Metro Manila, there have been numerous cases of teachers being slapped with child abuse complaints for enforcing discipline in the classroom.

One was allegedly charged with violation of the Child Abuse Law after she asked a student to stand and face the wall for causing a ruckus during a lecture, said Ruby Bernardo of ACT-NCR.

Not the teacher, but the disciplinary act

During the meeting, Romulo tapped Department of Justice state counsel Jennelyn Bilocura to help in tweaking the wording of the still unnumbered bill to exempt teachers disciplinary acts from the scope of the Child Abuse Law, which he said was too “all-encompassing.”

“We can exempt (from the law) the disciplining authority of the teacher. In that case, there would be a need to define the disciplining authority of the teacher,” Bilocura said.

“Its not the teacher that we will exempt, but the disciplining act,” Romulo agreed.

Romulo added that while the countrys laws should still provide penalties for individuals who commit abusive acts to students, the Child Abuse Law should not be used to arbitrarily go after teachers who enforce discipline inside the classroom.

The House bill also gives teachers facing charges related to child abuse the option to avail of free legal assistance from the Public Attorneys Office and the Department of Education.

The still unnumbered bill was unanimously approved subject to amendments on wording.

During the meeting, a DepEd representative also cautioned lawmakers to not exempt all acts of classroom discipline from being defined as child abuse and exploitation, which in turn would also be “sweeping.”

“Who can identify if such act is not child abuse? It is usually a judge, or court,” said Tara Rama, director of the DepEd Education Program Management.

Romulo said that these concerns would be taken into account in the revised version of the measure, which he said should "strike a balance" between teacher and child protection.

In DepEds Child Protection Policy manual, teachers are not allowed to use corporal punishment to discipline a student, which refers to any disciplinary act involving "physical, humiliating, or degrading punishment."

DepEd also enforces a "zero tolerance" policy for any act of child abuse, exploitation, violence, discrimination, bullying and other forms of abuse, according to its Child Protection Policy or DepEd Order No. 40, s. 2012.