Government targets child-labor free Philippines this year

MANILA, Philippines – The Aquino government will be working for the Philippines to be a “child-labor free” country this year, following reports that around 2.4 million children aged nine to 17 form part of the current workforce.

“Our target is for the Philippines to be child-labor free in 2012,” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said over government-run radio station dzRB, in reaction to the figures provided by the International Labor Organization (ILO).

Quoting Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, she did not refute the ILO statistics as revealed by Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano, noting that child labor incidents are indeed “more prevalent in the countryside.”

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has vowed to address the issue by working double time and by focusing on the 80 villages in the country where child labor is most prevalent, and ensuring efficient periodic reports of such incidents.

Valte said the labor department has also reactivated the Village Council for the Protection of Children, which includes the prosecution of illegal recruiters of minors, who are forced to join the country’s work force.

Cayetano cited the ILO data as he called on the DOLE and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to step up efforts to curb child labor in the country.

Cayetano expressed concern about the figure and the fact that many of these child laborers are street children who are most vulnerable to exploitation.

He urged the DOLE and DSWD to undertake a joint nationwide campaign aimed at creating higher awareness on child labor and exploitation to protect the vulnerable children against those who exploit them.

“We need to see more government agents checking on industries that hire child laborers and in communities where parents are known to force their children to seek employment,” Cayetano said.

“Government must also be prepared to support both the rehabilitation of the children and the parents,” he added.

Cayetano said he was concerned that a significant number of the child laborers reported by the ILO were engaged in hazardous work.

“Despite being a signatory to various ILO conventions that prevent child labor, the Philippines is known to have one of the largest number of child laborers in the world,” he said.

“The government has to find ways to alleviate poverty in the country and provide more opportunities for these street children’s parents to be able to provide for themselves and their families. Once we work on eradicating poverty, the rest will follow,” he said.

Baldoz recently announced that the DOLE is sustaining its presence in the countryside “in an effort to stamp out child labor in villages with high incidences of child labor.”

Baldoz said she has ordered the DOLE’s 16 regional offices to set the target to transform pre-identified villages where there is a high incidence of child labor to be child labor-free villages.

“In this program, we emphasize the important role of community leaders, notably the village captains, in identifying, eliminating and preventing the incidence of child labor and the illegal recruitment of minors in their own communities,” Baldoz said. –Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star)