President Rodrigo Duterte delivers a speech at the SMX Convention Center in Davao City on February 19, 2019. Albert Alcain, Presidential Photo

MANILA - President Rodrigo Duterte has vetoed an "anti-palo" bill that prohibits beating children and other physical forms of punishment to discipline them, Malacañang confirmed Thursday.

Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros filed the measure, which she said aims to promote "positive and nonviolent discipline of children."

Duterte's rejection of the measure was confirmed by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. No other detail was immediately available.

Sixty-six percent or 2 in 3 parents discipline their children through corporal punishment, a 2011 Pulse Asia survey showed.



Corporal punishment, however, erodes parent-child relationships because youngsters viewed their parents as givers of pain, Hontiveros said, citing a study.

More details to follow.

Report from Pia Gutierrez, ABS-CBN News