DOLE beefs up fight against child labor

CEBU, Philippines — The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has strengthened its campaign against incidence of child labor, by profiling and monitoring the child workers in Central Visayas.

"Monitoring the status of profiled child laborers will help us identify the type of and the most appropriate government interventions that could be extended to them,” said DOLE Cebu Provincial Field Office (CPFO) Officer-in-charge Vivencio E. Lagahid, in a statement.

He said that of the 3,959 child laborers profiled in Cebu Province, 77.8 percent (3,078)  were monitored and interviewed from May to August this year.

The profiled child laborers were from Minglanilla (1,236); Carcar City (686); Danao City (673); Toledo City (330); Balamban (320); Barili (292); Talisay City (272); San Remigio (34); Argao (28); Sibonga (23); and City of Naga (13).

Of the numbers, those already monitored and interviewed were 1,171 in Minglanilla;  588 in Carcar; 483 in Danao; 282 in Toledo; 194 in Balamban; 77 in Barili; 192 in Talisay; 29 in San Remigio; 28 in Argao; 23 in Sibonga; and 11 in Naga.

Lagahid said the remaining 881 would be monitored before the year ends, with the CPFO concentrating in the towns of Tuburan, Daanbantayan, and Compostela.

He said DOLE has started extending assistance to these children and to their parents or guardians to ensure that they would no longer be in the list of child workers.

DOLE-7 Regional Director Lilia A. Estillore also said that of the parents and/or guardians of child laborers in Cebu who successfully came up with their feasible and viable project proposals, 290 already received their livelihood assistance amounting to P8.3 million.

This was during the "Word Day Against Child Labor" celebration last June 12 in the town of Barili, Cebu.

Estillore said DOLE is doing the same thing in the provinces of Negros Oriental, Siquijor and Bohol, as well as in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu, where monitoring of profiled child laborers is consistently conducted.

Under Republic Ac 9231 (Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act), child labor refers to "any work performed by a child under 18 years old that subjects him/her to any form of exploitation or is harmful to his/her health and safety or physical, mental or psychological development."

"This deprives children of their childhood, potential and their dignity," the law stated.

DOLE, through its "Kabuhayan Para sa Magulang ng Batang Manggagawa (KASAMA)" Program, provides parents of child laborers needed equipment, tools, and/or raw materials and trainings so they could engage in sustainable, alternative sources and forms of income, so the children would no longer work anymore.

“Instead, they will go to school and finish their education,” Estillore said.

In Cebu province, most of the livelihood undertakings that the beneficiaries explored were cattle and swine fattening; goat raising, fishing by making use of pump boats; and selling of snacks and frozen goods.

Last March 3, 2023, the Philippine Statistics Authority released the "Working Children Situation for 2019 to 2021", which named 1.37 million Filipinos as "working children", 935,000 of whom were engaged in child labor.

The report revealed that Central Visayas has the second highest incidence of child labor at 10 percent or around 93,500. It has also the third highest incidence of working children ages five to seven (8.7 percent). — (FREEMAN)