Government steps up anti-child labor campaign: official

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – The government is stepping up its anti-child labor drive by seeking the participation of 42,000 villages in the implementation of the administration’s program, a senior government official said today.

Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said the Philippine Program Against Child Labor (PPACL) received a boost from the United States Department of Labor through its funding.

“The Philippines is stepping up its long-term efforts against child labor by addressing its causes in both poverty and the impunity by which violators continue to engage children and minors in illegal underage employment in its worst forms,” said Baldoz.

She said the government’s overall efforts aim to reinvigorate the country’s anti-child labor program in the light of President Benigno Aquino III’s goal to promote labor standards compliance and align more fully the country’s labor policies with international treaties and the conventions of the International Labor Organization that have been ratified by the Philippines.

Lourdes Trasmonte, Labor Undersecretary for Social Protection underscored the immense importance of long term solutions such as community-based development to simultaneously promote rural jobs growth and micro-entrepreneurial opportunities to push back poverty, which is the culprit behind child labor and its worst forms.

Trasmonte encouraged all sectors, particularly local government units, to reinforce the overall efforts towards anti-child labor enforcement and “opportunities-friendly, anti-poverty development” benefiting the 42,008 villages nationwide. –(philstar.com)