House asked to prioritize laws on children

MANILA, Philippines - Leaders of the House of Representatives should give priority to legislation to protect and promote the welfare of children, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said.

UNICEF Philippines Deputy Representative Abdul Alim met last week with Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. and other lawmakers chairing crucial House committees and discussed matters pertaining to critical law on the rights of children, adolescent and women in the Philippines.

Representatives from the Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development (PLCPD) also participated in the meeting.

Joining the discussion were Reps. Linabelle Ruth Villarica, committee on women and gender equality chairman; Rodel Batocabe, committee on climate change chairman; Sharon Garin, committee on Millennium Development Goals vice chairman; Bellaflor Angara-Castillo, PLCPD member; Salvio Fortuno, committee on poverty alleviation chairman, and Henry Oaminal, Ad Hoc Committee on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law vice chairman.

In a statement, UNICEF said “the meeting offered an important opportunity to advocate for the passage of several child-related law. Within the context of a larger discussion to improve national and local legislation to promote child rights, the discussion centered on key legislative bills including: the far-reaching impact of child nutrition in the first 1,000 days of a child’s life; improving access to children in HIV testing, and mainstreaming child rights in the BBL.”

House leaders were receptive to the recommendations of UNICEF.

The fruitful exchange opened up avenues for continued high-level engagement in advancing and monitoring child rights in the Philippines, UNICEF said.

Alongside many countries across the world, the Philippines celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 2014. 

In 1990, the Philippines ratified the CRC, the most widely endorsed international human rights treaty in history.

The convention establishes legally and morally binding obligations on every state party which ratifies it to “undertake all appropriate and legislative, administrative and other measures to the implementation of the rights recognized” in the CRC.