TAGUM CITY — A Manila-based child rights advocate raised a red flag on Friday, May 6 after a political advertisement aired on television networks with children being used for political mudslinging.
Kabiba Alliance for Children’s Concern (KABIBA), in a statement questioned the use of children for a political purpose featured in the anti-Duterte political advertisement.
“Were the children who appeared in this ad know the purpose of this ad? Did they know that their faces would come out along with Duterte? What would they feel now when they see this ad?” asked Lindy Trenilla, officer-in-charge of the Davao-based child advocacy group.
Trenilla said the anti-Duterte political ad “violates the rights of children an affront to our effort to protect the interest and welfare of our children.”
“This ad, which claims to be paid by Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, shows dirty and virulent electioneering dominated by the big political parties and oligarchs who have been violating children’s rights,” she added.
Kabiba condemned the “unethical” used of children for political purpose. The child-based advocacy group has urged both the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) and Kapisan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) “to probe the violations on children’s rights committed by the TV stations and by Trillanes and his financers.”
Other government agencies such as Commission on Human Rights (CHR) and Department of Social and Development (DSWD) were likewise urged to conduct a separate probe.
Kabiba also tagged the Aquino administration as the “most guilty of violating children’s rights.”
This as the group noted that under the Aquino regime thousands of “lumad and peasant children displaced by the military campaigns” while other children either suffered different forms of abuses, neglected and denied of social services by the government.
Meanwhile, Davao City councilor, Leah Librado-Yap called the video as “malicious”.
“This ad is highly tendentious and malicious because the issues of the children are being narrowed just to destroy Duterte,” Librado-Yap told Davao Today in an interview on Thursday, May 5.
Librado, who heads the Committee on Women and Children, said the anti-Duterte ad was reflective of what she described as the “dirty characters of politics” in the country by using mainstream media as a platform for black propaganda against any political candidates.
“The ABS-CBN should pull out the said ad because it is unfair and it exploits children,” she said.
Librado also branded the Aquino administration’s mantra “Tuwid Na Daan (Straight Path) as the “most monstrous administration for children.”
Women’s group Gabriela also scored Senator Trillanes for allegedly using children in the advertisement.
“After his failed bank exposés and plunder charge, Sen. Trillanes now tries to bring down Mayor Rodrigo Duterte by playing up with the public’s emotions using children against his political opponent. Politics has certainly reached an all-time low this elections, with Trillanes’ antics,” Gabriela said in its statement Friday.
The group urged the public to remain vigilant against all forms of fraud including the “dirty tricks and manipulations, by candidates to further their interests in the coming elections.”
“We also urge the public to continue to look into the platforms of candidates and choose whom they would vote based on who could best lead the country for our children’s welfare, away from abuse and manipulation,” it said. (With a report from Zea Io Ming C. Capistrano/davaotoday.com)
