Advocates tell House: Approve anti-child marriage bills

CEBU, Philippines —  Women’s rights and child rights advocates are calling on the House of Representatives, specifically the Committee on Justice, for the urgent deliberation and passage of bills that seek to prohibit the practice of child marriage.

Rom Dongeto, executive director The Philippine Legislators’ Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD), organizer of the #GirlDefenders Alliance and convenor of the Child Rights Network, said that legislators must recognize the urgency of this issue as single day that this law is not passed means girls being forced into marriage and risks of a vicious cycle of violence.

Citing the World Health Organization, the PLCPD said that the Philippines is ranked 12th in the world in terms of absolute number of child brides. It said that data from the 2017 National Demographic and Health Survey reveal that one out of six Filipina girls are married before they turn 18.

It can be recalled that, in 2019, Senator Risa Hontiveros, who is the chair of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, filed a bill seeking the eradication of child marriages in the Philippines.

Senate Bill 162, or the “Girls not Brides Act of 2019,” aims to protect children by prohibiting and penalizing child marriages. In February 2020, Hontiveros filed a revised version, the Senate Bill 1373.

In November 2020, SB 1373  was approved on third and final reading.

In the House of Representatives, there are four versions of the bill: House Bill (HB) 1486 filed by Deputy Speaker Bernadette Herrera-Dy and Rep. Edcel Lagman, HB 3899 filed by Rep. Alfred Vargas, HB 5670 filed by Rep. Josephine Veronique Lacson-Noel, and HB 7922 filed by Rep. Myra Joy Tambunting.

“There has been no action on the bills since they were filed in 2019,” PLCPD said.

Hontiveros earlier said that child marriage is a human rights violation as it undermines the wellbeing of girls and impedes their personal development and many will likely end up in poverty as child brides will have limited education and economic opportunities.

“Let our children be children. Let us allow them to grow and fulfill their full potential. Let us end child marriages,” Hontiveros said.

Once passed into law, a person who causes, fixes, facilitates, or arranges a child marriage shall be considered as responsible for “acts of neglect, abuse, cruelty, or exploitation, and other conditions prejudicial to the child’s development” and shall be punished under Republic Act 7610, or the Special Protection of Children against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act. — JMD (FREEMAN)