21 barangays in 6 NegOcc LGUs now child labor-free

THE Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) Western Visayas has recently declared 21 child labor-free barangays in six local government units (LGUs) in Negros Occidental.

This translates to 91 percent and 75 percent accomplishment of the provincial and regional target, respectively, for 2015.

These are barangays Cabug, Felisa and Granada in Bacolod City; Bacong, Dulao, Ma-ao, Mailum, Ilijan and Binubuhan in Bago City; Lopez Jaena, Salvacion, San Miguel in Murcia town: Buluanga, Guadalupe, and Rizal in San Carlos City; Bubog and Efigenio Lizares in Talisay City; and General Luna, Magticol, Tabun-ac and Bug-ang in Toboso town.

Dole Western Visayas Director Ponciano Ligutom, who spoke at the Research Forum dubbed “Child Labor in the Sugarcane Industry: Understanding its Realities, Facing its Challenges” held at the University of Saint La Salle (USLS) in Bacolod City on Friday, said these barangays have passed the child labor-free indicators.

Among others, “no children below 18 years old are employed in hazardous works.”

Ligutom said the labor department targets to declare as child labor-free 43 barangays in the region this year, including 26 in Negros Occidental.

As of October, Negros Occidental is the only province in the region with barangays already declared as child labor-free, he added.

“The department continues to implement programs to fight child labor problems like providing employment to parents of child laborers as well as services to child laborers themselves and opportunities to education,” Ligutom said.

Meanwhile, the ABK3 Leap (Livelihood, Education, Advocacy and Protection) of World Vision, a non-government organization working on reducing child labor cases in the country through various programs and interventions, partnered with the University of the Philippines Social Action and Research for Development Foundation, Inc.

(UPSARDF) and USLS to conduct five research studies that focus on the occupational and safety hazards of child laborers, sakadas, land reform and its implications on child labor, and increasing productivity in sugarcane through block farming.

These studies were presented as highlight of the research forum initiated by the ABK3 Leap and its various partners like the Sugar Industry Foundation Inc. (Sifi).

Daphne Culanag, project director of ABK3 Leap, said the research forum served as venue for the sugar industry, government agencies, local governments, and the academe to talk about the implications of these researches and the actions required to respond to the needs of child laborers.

Based on the 2012 preliminary baseline survey, 67, 033 children are working in sugarcane fields in 11 provinces in the country. Of this number, 35,707 are in Negros Occidental, the highest in Western Visayas.

The ABK3 Leap has already assisted more than 50,000 children in the country, including 22,809 in the province.