Child Labor

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) has branded the surrender of 80 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, including 19 minors, in Bukidnon province to government authorities as military “psychological warfare” smacks of coercion and fakery.

Two commanders of the Abu Sayyaf Group have been resorting to force and intimidation to recruit “child warriors,” a military officer said.

Nineteen out of the 80 New People’s Army (NPA) rebels, who voluntarily surrendered last Monday to government authorities in Bukidnon province, were minors, bolstering the military’s claims that the communist group is recruiting child warriors.

COTABATO CITY – For “giving up arms,” at least 20 child-soldiers in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) got educational benefits under a regional government program with international funding agencies, an official said.

MANILA, Philippines – Months after an international human rights group slammed them for allegedly fabricating stories of child recruits in the New People’s Army rebel group, the Armed Forces of the Philippines claimed that they have proof disproving these accusations.

More Filipinos are looking for work, but the number of jobs available to them has not grown. This was one of the findings of the Department of Agriculture’s Labor and Population Force Survey released last week and which mapped out the country’s working population within and outside the agriculture sector.

CATARMAN, Northern Samar, Nov. 3 (PIA) -– The recently conducted hands-on training on Child Labor Knowledge Sharing System CLKSS sponsored by International Labor Organization (ILO) through the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) at Mharina Rossi Internet Café in Catarman was a success.

MALAYBALAY CITY (MindaNews/28 October) – Thirteen barangays in two cities and two towns in Bukidnon have been identified  for the International Labor Organization-funded child protection program starting November, Arsenio Alagenio, Bukidnon provincial social welfare and development officer, said.

Senate minority leader Alan Peter Cayetano again called on the Aquino administration to do more to check the rising number of children in the country that are forced to work in hazardous conditions. The senator reiterated his call, as the world observes the International Children’s Month this October, citing the lack of resources allocated by…

TAYTAY, Rizal: Police have issued a warning to the public against a syndicate whom they said are abducting children in preparation for Christmas to be used as beggars, after they recovered two minors earlier reported missing.

AT least 64 minors have been confirmed to be working in small-scale mining projects in the gold rush town of T’boli, South Cotabato, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) officials said.

THE Philippine Army yesterday deplored the report released by the international group Human Rights Watch (HRW) over 13 “child warriors” captured in engagements with the rebel New People’s Army (NPA) in Davao and Surigao recently.

MANILA, Philippines – The military yesterday denied a report by New York-based Human Rights Watch that the Army is falsely labeling children as combatants of the communist rebels.

The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) is again up to its old dirty tricks of fabricating “evidence” and information. A prominent international human rights group has accused the Philippine military of fabricating information that children they take into custody are child soldiers.

NEGROS OCCIDENTAL, Oct. 11 (PIA) — Three nationwide surveys are being conducted this month by the National Statistics Office. These include the Survey on Overseas Filipinos, Survey on Children and the quarterly Labor Force Survey .

MANILA, Philippines – The US government has granted $15 million for the education and other services of Filipino children engaged in hazardous forms of child labor.

The U.S. Labor Department this week announced a list of the worst countries for abuses of child labor but held out only meager hope for improvement soon. India, Bangladesh and the Philippines are at the top. Several Latin American countries also made the list.

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.

WASHINGTON – US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis on Monday announced a grant of $15 million for a project to combat exploitative child labor in sugarcane growing areas in the Philippines.

WASHINGTON — India, Bangladesh and the Philippines lead the world in the number of products made by child workers, a US government stock-taking of the global scale of underaged labor revealed.

THE PHILIPPINES must exert more effort to reduce child workers, according to a report released by the United States government, even as it noted that “the worst forms of child labor” remain in the country.

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Monday called on local government units (LGUs) to formulate local legislations that will address child labor and integrate anti-child labor initiatives in their local development plans and programs.

At least one million children in Africa, Latin America, Europe and Asia, including the Philippines, work in small-scale mining and quarrying operations, the International Labor Organization (ILO) reported.

Boosting government’s fight against human trafficking, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in Bicol has rescued nine minors from human traffickers in separate operations, Labor Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said in a statement Thursday.

CATARMAN, Northern Samar, Sept. 15 (PIA) -– Key agencies of the province of Northern Samar led by the Provincial Government and International Labor Organization-International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) will finally engage into a written agreement to signify and capture the collective commitment of each representation in eliminating child labour as well…

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s Moro secessionist movement in the south, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), has been included in the United Nation’s list of armed groups that recruit children in warfare.

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it has closed down a disco club in Parañaque City and a KTV bar in Cebu City for employing minors.

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte, Aug. 25 (PIA) -– The International Labor Organization (ILO) has tapped the National Statistics Office (NSO) in conducting a survey to find out the extent of child labor situation in the Philippines.

ORMOC CITY, Leyte, Philippines (PIA) — The International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) are embarking jointly on a new project seeking to at least halve incidents of child labor by 2016.

IT is no surprise that armed Muslim groups, including the newly-formed Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) of expelled Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) Commander Ameril Umbra Kato, are using child soldiers, the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) said on Friday.