Child laborers in CV reach close to 400T

How alarming is the child labor problem in Central Visayas?

Very alarming, according to the 2007 survey of the National Statistics Office-7, which says that there are 388,000 minor laborers in Central Visayas, or about 21.7 percent of the total 1.8 million cases in the country.

In the same survey, NSO-7 said only 2.6 million of the four million child laborers are attending schools.

Worst, the agency said that about 2.4 million child workers are already exposed to physical, biological, and chemical hazards at work in their young age.

“This figure means that a disgraceful number of children are born to world of hunger and neglect, born to parents ill-equipped to even take care of their basic needs,” the Department of Labor and Employment-7 said.

DOLE-7 director Elias Cayanong told a forum that cases of child laborers in the region are stabilizing.

He said that his office is coordinating with other government agencies to help curb cases of child laborers in the region.

He also said that child laborers are considered one of the global concerns greatly affecting developing countries.

“Child labor is undoubtedly part of the survival strategy of poor families. In a situation of poverty, children are highly valued for their economic contribution,” he said.

Some of the worst forms of child labor in Central Visayas are those children working in pyrotechnic factories and those in sugarcane plantations.

Cayanong admitted he is clueless whether the reported number of child labor cases in the region has decreased or increased.

He explained that private sectors, where child laborers are mostly working, are hard to monitor and that private employers refuse to cooperate.

Also, he explained that the statistics office usually does the recording of child labor cases and that his office solely relies on their report.

Cayanong said that 60 to 70 percent of child laborers are engaged in the pyrotechnics business.

Because of this the Department of Social Welfare and Development will be doubling its efforts to monitor those children working in pyrotechnic factories to curb the problem.

“DSWD will be doubling its efforts with the help of barangay officials and we will be tightening the belt this time to avoid any accidents as there have been reports of accidents like these involving children,” DSWD social welfare officer Emma Patalinghug said.  — Gerome M. Dalipe and Jasmin R. Uy/MEEV