Dear Atty. Chris,

My daughter's 13-year-old friend (let's call her May) come often to our house after school. Most of the time, we can see bruises on different parts of her body. We once asked her what was happening but she kept mum. Their other classmate who is a neighbor of May, told us that she often hears cries and anger inside May's house. Some of the parents and I want to make a move against this. Is this child abuse? Please help us.

Sarah

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Dear Sarah,

If May's bruises are from the doing of another person, this action may constitute Child Abuse. This is punishable under Republic Act 7610 or the "Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act." Child abuse is defined under Section 3 (b), Article 1, of same law as "referring to the maltreatment, whether habitual or not, of the child which includes any of the following: (1) psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual abuse and emotional maltreatment; (2) any act by deeds or words which debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being; xxx"

Relative thereto, Section 10 (a), Article VI of the said law also states:

"Any person who shall commit any other acts of child abuse, cruelty or exploitation or be responsible for other conditions prejudicial to the child's development including those covered by Article 59 of PD No. 603, as amended, but not covered by the Revised Penal Code, as amended, shall suffer the penalty of prison mayor in its minimum period."

Please be guided by the case of Del Pose vs People of the Philippines (GR 210810, 7 December, 2016), where the Supreme Court through Associate Justice Diosdado Peralta said:

"xxx As gleaned from the foregoing, the provision punishes not only those enumerated under Article 59 of the Presidential Decree No. 603, but also four distinct acts, i.e., (a) child abuse, (b) child cruelty, (c) child exploitation and (d) being responsible for conditions prejudicial to the child's development. The Rules and Regulations of the questioned statute distinctly and separately defined child abuse, cruelty and exploitation just to show that these three acts are different from one another and from the acts prejudicial to the child's development. Contrary to petitioner's assertion, an accused can be prosecuted and be convicted under Section 10 (a), Article VI of Republic Act No. 7610 if he commits any of the four acts therein. The prosecution need not prove that the acts of child abuse, child cruelty and child exploitation have resulted in the prejudice of the child because an act prejudicial to the development of the child is different from the former acts."