DoLE intensifies child protection program

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) said Saturday it will tap local government units (LGUs) to intensify it campaign against the worst form of child labor.

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz made the statement after the United States Labor Department (USDOL) recently awarded a US$15 million grant to the World Vision Foundation (WFV) to fund its education program for children working in sugarcane production.

The WFV is a member of the Philippine Program against Child Labor (PPACL), which is headed by DoLE.

“This is a clear recognition of our contribution to the global fight against child labor and of the Philippine government’s cooperation with the private sector in mounting concerted action to eliminate or prevent this menace to society,” Baldoz said.

USDOL gave the donation after it recognized the country’s efforts to prevent child labor through its conditional cash transfer program in its 10th annual Findings on the Worst Form of Child Labor.

Under the conditional cash transfer program, parents are given incentives like cash allowances if they will send their children instead of sending them to work.

It also noted DoLE’s program requiring its regional offices to allot 5 percent of their funds to be used for its Child Labor Prevention and Elimination Programs (CLPEP).

These include Sagip Batang Maggagawa, which aims to rescue child laborer from unscrupulous employers engaging in worst of child labor, and its Kabuhayan para sa Magulang ng Batang Manggagawa (KaSaMa) Project, which aims to augment the income of the parents of child laborers through livelihood programs so they will no longer be required to work.

But USDOL stressed the government should still improve the inspection and prosecution of companies employing child laborer for hazardous work like prostitution or mining.

It said of the 27,764 establishment inspected by DoLE last year through its Labor Enforcement Program (LEAP), it only indentified about 111 child laborers.

The inspected firms already include the informal gold mines in Mindanao and sugar cane plantations in Negros Occidental, where the worst form child labor is prevalent.

“The small number of child labor violations uncovered during the period (2009-2010) relative to the scope and prevalence of child labor points to gaps in the labor inspection process,” the USDOL said.

Baldoz said this will be addressed with the Department Interior Local Government (DILG) issuance of memorandum Circular 2011-133, which will require LGUs to draft ordinances to address child labor in their areas.

She said that this will improve the government’s monitoring and prosecution of establishments, which are employing child laborers. “This move is timely as it will provide more teeth to the implementation of the PPACL at the local level.”

Under the PPACL strategic framework for 2007 to 2015, the Philippine government aims to reduce by 75 percent the worst form of child labor in the country by 2015. –SAMUEL MEDENILLA, Manila Bulletin