DAVAO CITY”•President Rodrigo Duterte on Thursday vowed to look into the increasing cases of child abuse in the country following the death of a two-year-old child here.
Duterte showed clippings of articles discussing issues related mostly to illegal drugs during his statement at the Davao City International Airport before leaving for Peru.
But he said there was an increasing number of cases of sexual abuse and battery involving children.
He said he will ask the Department of Social Welfare and Development to look into those cases.
“I think we really have to talk to DSWD,” Duterte said.
“There were minors killed, and one case here is that of a mother working in the Middle East. Her child was left with her cousins, and the two-year-old kid was battered.
“This is really very disturbing for a human being who cannot defend himself to die in a brutal matter through negligence.”
Duterte was referring to the child who allegedly died after his guardians mauled him after he peed on his pants.
The mother’s child is working in Bahrain.
Duterte said the economic opportunities in the country must increase so Filipinos need no longer work abroad.
“We have to improve our country to accommodate those people. We want them to come home,” he said.
In August, a four-year-old child also died after his stepfather hung him from a sack that allegedly fell on the ground several times.