Letter to the Editor – Child labor

The 2001 survey of the National Statistics Office on working children revealed that there were four million or 16.2 percent of the more than 24.8 million Filipino children, five to 17 years old that were economically active. Meaning, one out of six children works.

The highest number of working children were from Luzon, followed by Central Visayas and Eastern Visayas. There were close to two million working children aged ten to 14 and 1.8 million aged 14 to 17.

The same survey released in May 2002 also revealed that there were more male working children than female, and that seven out of every ten working children resided in the rural areas.

What is child labor?

World Vision, an international child-focused Christian relief and development organization, defines child labor as "any work performed by a child that subjects the child to economic exploitation, or that is likely to be hazardous for the child that interferes with the child's education, or that is harmful to the child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development."

Child labor also "is when children are compelled to work on a regular basis, when they are separated from their families, or when they are forced to lead prematurely adult lives."

Poverty pushes the children to child labor. Other causes include the attitude of parents and traditions, lack of access to quality education and facilities, easy exploitation of children, product demand and seasonality, and lack of law enforcement.

The paper further says that 60 percent or about 2.4 million working children were exposed to hazardous environment, most common of which are physical hazards, exposure to chemical elements, and biological infections.

One third of working children did not attend school. Of those who attended school, however, encountered problems such as difficulty in catching up with the lessons, high cost of school supplies, books, transportation (for those living far from the schools), unsupportive teachers, and lack of time to study. As a result, two in every five working children stopped or dropped out of school.

Child exploitation occurs when "work burdens the child, too heavy for the child's age and capabilities, or when the work is unsupervised or supervised by abusive adults, or when the child is subjected to psychological, verbal, or physical/sexual abuse."

One is also guilty of child labor when the "child's work is utilized for exploitative, subversive of clandestine operations, or disguised illegal activities, or when the child is forced by circumstances or by coercive individuals to work, or when the workplace poses hazard to the child's health and life.

The children should not be deprived of their time for school, play or rest, by exposing them to long hours of work. And they should be afforded positive rewards for their work and be entitled to the legislated social security benefits.

During the 1st National Media Summit on Child Labor held recently in Manila, DepEd Asst. Secretary Lilia Z. Roces, said that "each child removed from the factory or from the employment world, essentially means one child returned to the classroom, and one child given the chance to fulfill his or her human potential."

Antolin M. Dela Serna
Guadalupe, Cebu City