Trying to save the ‘buffalo kids’

Published by rudy Date posted on May 1, 2012

‘Do more to crack down’ on child labor

Agusan del Norte:

Children in the village of Baleguian in the southern Philippines have to be strong to survive.

Abject poverty forces many to have to haul logs much heavier and bigger than them to help their families make ends meet.

Instead of going to school, Juan Bulingit, 12, prefers to work to help his family, according to the boy’s mother.

“What’s the use of going to school when you are starving hungry?” Juan’s mother, Maria Bulingit, said.

Juan is one of 2.4 million child laborers aged 9-17 working in the Philippines according to latest statistics from the International Labor Organization (ILO).

However, a senator believes that number could be much higher.

“Despite being a signatory to various ILO conventions designed to eradicate child labor, the Philippines is known to have one of the largest numbers of child workers in the world,” Senator Alan Peter Cayetano said.

The ILO has cited child labor as one of the major social problems plaguing the country.

Juan and his friends earn at least a dollar a day for their hard toil. His mother said Juan has seemed to have stopped growing after he started working at the age of seven.

“He was forced to work to feed us at an early age as I have two other kids,” Maria said.

She said most parents in the village know that hauling logs is dangerous, “but we have to accept it because circumstances dictate they have to so we can survive.”

The children are called “buffalo kids” because they work so hard.

Ricky Requirme, a Baptist minister in the village, says log buyers prefer using children rather than buffaloes to haul logs because a child can negotiate mountain trails much better.

“Renting buffaloes is also more expensive than hiring children,” he said.

Senator Cayetano this month called on government agencies to be more aggressive in cracking down on the exploitation of minors.

He urged the government check up on parents who, most of the time, force their children to work.

July 2025

Nutrition Month
“Give us much more than P50 increase
for proper nutrition!”

Invoke Article 33 of the ILO Constitution
against the military junta in Myanmar
to carry out the 2021 ILO Commission of Inquiry recommendations
against serious violations of
Forced Labour and Freedom of Association protocols.

Accept National Unity Government (NUG)
of Myanmar.  Reject Military!

#WearMask #WashHands #Distancing #TakePicturesVideosturesVideos

Time to support & empower survivors. Time to spark a global conversation. Time for #GenerationEquality to #orangetheworld!

 

July –

3 July – International Day of Cooperatives 

3 July – International Plastic Bag Free Day

7 July – Global Forgiveness Day

11 July – World Population Day 

15 July – World Youth Skills Day 

17 July – World Day for
International Justice

28 July – World Nature Conservation Day

30 July – World Day against
Trafficking in Persons 


Monthly Observances:

Schools Safety Month

Nutrition Month
National Disaster Consciousness Month

Weekly Observances:

Week 2: Cultural Communities Week
Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise
Development Week
Week 3: National Science and
Technology Week
National Disability Prevention and
Rehabilitation Week
July 1-7:
National Culture Consciousness Week
July 13-19:
Philippines Business Week
Week ending last Saturday of July:
Arbor Week

 

Daily Observances:

First Saturday of July:
International Cooperative Day
in the Philippines

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