Sponsorship Speech of Senator Risa Hontiveros on the Magna Carta of Children Bill

PHILIPPINES, December 10 - Press Release
December 10, 2024

Sponsorship Speech of Senator Risa Hontiveros on the Magna Carta of Children Bill

Mr. President, it is my honor and privilege to sponsor Committee Report No. 425 or the Magna Carta of Children, a long-standing advocacy of child rights advocates in the Philippines.

The Magna Carta of children has the following important features:

1. It codifies the rights of children as reposed in other laws and clarifies the primary duty bearers in the exercise of these rights. At present, this is dispersed in various legislation like the Family Code, the Civil Code, the CWC, the DSWD.

2. It contains protective provisions for children in particularly vulnerable situations, such as children who are victims of climate-related disasters, children in GIDA areas, victims of human trafficking and violent crime, etc. At present, only children in situations of armed conflict and children in conflict with the law are given carved-out special protections.

3. It institutionalizes the creation of child advocacy centers, to legislate the protections given to child-witnesses and child-survivors of crime. Para po itong one-stop shop ng services para sa kanila, at para hindi na paulit-ulit ang kanilang paglahad ng kanilang naranasan at nasaksihan.

This is a particularly important and evidence-based innovation, Mr. President, that is already existing in some local government units that needs to be replicated on a national scale. There are many international donors willing to fund the construction of these centers because they have been proven to work in Thailand, Cambodia and the United States. Kailangang kailangan natin dito.

4. It closes an important gap in the OSAEC law, in cases of online child sexual abuse with an extraterritorial element;

5. It mandates the creation of the Child Ombudsman under the auspices of the CHR, and:

6. It creates the Philippine Commission on Children from the Council for the Welfare of Children. May PCW for women, may NYC for youth. Bakit wala para sa ating mga kabataan?

We also confirm, Mr. President, that DBM and CSC are in full support of the creation of the Philippine Commission on Children from what is currently the CWC.

Mr. President, this bill deserves our utmost support. It is a happy bill, a bill our 19th Congress should rally around. Let us make this our legacy to our nation's children, and perhaps, as Christmas is coming, our Christmas gift to them as well.

Salamat po, Mr. President.