Mindanaotoday.com | DOLE-10 takes best shots on child labor
By: URIEL QUILINGUING
Having the most number of child laborers among 17 regions is not something to crow about, even if 20,335, out of the estimated 138 thousand in Northern Mindanao, had already been profiled last year.
Estrella U. Pahalla, Department of Labor and Employment acting regional director, disclosed these startling figures on Friday, June 9, in a press conference at the SM Downtown Premier mall in Cagayan de Oro.
“Our work is not over yet after having them profiled,” said Pahalla, even as she expressed optimism some of the 20,335 child laborers in 2022 may have returned to school, undergone livelihood training, or had found stable jobs.
She said they will continue to coordinate with other government agencies, those in the Regional Council Against Child Labor, so that initiatives of livelihood trainings and various forms of assistance could “cull them out” from hazardous work situations.
The newly-installed DOLE-10 head said the child labor statistics were computed by the International Labor Organization in 2021 when the country had about 935 thousand child laborers in 2021, aged 5 to 15 years old, and were exposed to hazardous conditions.
About 14.8 percent of the country’s child-labor estimate, or 138 thousand were in Northern Mindanao – most of them in Bukidnon, a predominantly agricultural province.
Pahalla said parents may not be aware they have been depriving their children’s rights to education and to enjoy, requiring them to do farming activities at a very young age.
She said that in urban areas like Cagayan de Oro, child laborers are often in the streets as ambulant vendors, parking attendants, public-utility vehicle barkers, sidewalk vendor aids, among others.
LABOR VS WORK
Child labor, the DOLE-10 head said, should be differentiated from child work which refers to household tasks intended to develop basic skills and instill traits — such as responsibility, perseverance, resourcefulness and discipline.
Nationwide, the DOLE has profiled 620,556 child laborers, provided essential services to 138,460 and has withdrawn 148,248 of them from child labor last year (2022) since 2018. For this year, some 160,288 child laborers are in DOLE’s priority list.
Three months ago, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) estimated that there were 1.37 million working children for the 2019-2021 period, and 935,000 of them were child laborers.
The PSA, in a statement, identified Northern Mindanao with the highest child labor incidence and attributed this to the region’s predominantly agriculture-based economic activities.
Under the United Nations Convention Rights of Child, “the child has the right to rest and leisure, to play and freely participate in cultural life and the arts,” and “shall be protected from economic exploitation and from performing work that is hazardous to one’s life and development.”
DOLE’S FIRST-TIME
“I am excited. This is the first-time we are collaborating (with other groups such as the World Vision and ChildFund Philippines) in the campaign against child labor,” said Pahalla, who rose from the ranks at DOLE-10 in the past two decades.
The theme of this year’s World Day Against Child Labor on June 13 is Buong Bansa, Lahat Bata: Sama-sama Para sa Batang Malaya (Entire Country, All Children: Together for Free Children).
Registered Social Worker Jovie T. Sorongon, World Vision field coordinator for Against Child Exploitation (ACE) Project in Cagayan de Oro, and Malaybalay City-based ChildFund Philippines Project Coordinator Alvin U. Dumduma joined Pahalla in the media interaction.
Under the government’s Integrated Livelihood Program, the DOLE-10 will distribute on June 12 and 13 more than P24-million-worth of livelihood/business starter kits to 1,254 parents of child laborers nationwide, and school-bags and school supplies to 200 child laborers in Cugman, Gusa, and Puntod villages.
And the WDACL comes a day after the 125th Philippine Independence Day celebration on Monday, June 12, when a job fair will be held where 4,824 job vacancies are available locally (3,242) and overseas (1,582) involving 68 employers.
The job fair will be held on Monday June 12, 8:30 am. to 5 pm at the 4th Floor, Cinema Area, SM Downtown Premier, along Claro M. Recto Avenue corner President Sergio Osmeña Streets, Cagayan de Oro. (30)
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