Father leaves his daughter in forest as punishment; she is still missing

We’re not sure how anyone thinks leaving a child in a forest is an acceptable form of punishment.

But a father of a 5-year-old girl, who reported his daughter missing yesterday, somehow thought it was acceptable to do this.

According to a report in GMA News, Felipe Eranzo went to police in Famy, Laguna, to tell them that his daughter was no longer in the spot where he left her.

He told police that she passed out after he smacked her in the nape of her neck. The reason? He said his daughter “embarrassed” him in front of his drinking buddies, so he left her in the forest, still unconscious, to “teach her a lesson.”

Police are continuing their search for the missing 5 year old, while Eranzo will face child abuse charges.

The story bears at least a passing resemblance to a similar tale that made headlines in Japan in May 2016. In that instance, the parents confessed to trying to teach their 7-year-old son a lesson by leaving him alone for five minutes in a still-snowy area of northern Hokkaido, an area notorious for having a large bear population.

The boy, young Yamato Tanooka, was ultimately found safe and unharmed at an abandoned army base that had running water after a search that went on for nearly a week. We can only hope this story has a similarly happy ending.