MANILA, Philippines - The Child Protection Unit (CPU)-Philippines will set up training and treatment centers in selected regions in the country to provide assistance to abused Filipino children.
CPU associate executive director Dr. Stella Guerrero-Manalo said the CPU will establish one national and six regional training and treatment centers, as well as 25 child protection units in key regions and 81 satellite offices nationwide in the next five years.
Manalo said the Philippine National Police’s National Women’s and Children’s Protection Desk reported some 9,787 maltreated children last year.
The figure was a thousand more than what was reported in 2008, Manalo said.
“These were only reported cases. CPU wants to be at the forefront in assisting child victims and their families get medical, psychosocial, and legal protection,” Manalo said. Cases of abuse in urban poor areas include child rape, child prostitution and child labor while incest is more prevalent in rural communities, she said.
Manalo said the United Nations Children’s Fund reported that there are at least 75,000 child sex workers in the Philippines due to poverty. The country ranks fourth on the list of countries having a large number of prostituted children.
A national survey on children done by Functional Literacy Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS) in 2001 likewise revealed that there are four million children forced to do manual labor because of poverty. Of this, 60 percent or 2.4 million were exposed to hazardous work environments, Manalo said.
Child abuse is also rampant in war torn regions such as Mindanao and some parts of Luzon, she added.
Manalo said the Council for the Welfare of Children also reported that children constituted around 13 percent to 18 percent of armed rebel combatants. In the last several years, government troop on numerous occasions captured or killed rebel fighters who turned out to be minors, Manalo said.