House bill 3646 was submitted to the Congress prohibiting the youth who are under-18 years old to join full contact sports.
AKO Bicol Representatives Christopher Co and Rodel Batocabe proposed the said bill that aims to protect the minors from harmful contact sports due to the incident of death of a fourth year student, who participated in a Regional Boxing Event.
“While acknowledging the importance, benefits, and the values that can be derived from participating in these sports, the measure recognizes the paramount need to protect the minors,” said Co.
Jonash Joshua Garcia, a boxing competitor in last year’s Central Luzon Regional Athletic Association, died on December 15, 2013 after being comatose for days due to the blows he received in a fight that resulted him to passed out.
If ever the bill was approved, any sports organization, institution, and event coordinators are not allowed to execute tournaments that are related to full contact sports involving minors.
Even the parents and guardians have no room to escape from the proposed bill once the Congress approved it and signed by President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino. Respective fines will be charged to them when they violated the possible law. An amount of P50,000 will be collected to the parents or guardians for the first offense, while P200,000 for the third and succeeding offenses.
Full contact sports including boxing, wrestling, wushu, arnis, taekwondo, Muay thai, Mixed Martial Arts, Judo, and other sports in the same nature will be banned for those who are below eighteen(18) years old.