DAVAO CITY – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will commemorate World Day on June 10 focusing on its advocacy against child labor.
DOLE Regional Director Joffrey Suyao on Mond ay, said that Davao region is in the bottom five when it comes to child labor.
The 2011 survey conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO) which was supported by the International LabourOrganizati on (ILO) indicated that some three million children in the Philippines are exposed to hazardous labor.
“In Davao region, they say that in 2011, we have about 114,000 (cases of child labor). And even though 114,000 is a huge number, we take note that Davao region is in the bottom five. That number is small compared to other regions in the Philippines,” Suyao said.
DOLE Davao, in partnership with other government and non-government organizations in the convergence program, dubbed as HELP ME, will host the 13th World Day against Child Labor which will be held at the Abreeza Mall.
HELP ME program which stands for Health; Education and Training; Livelihood; Prevention, protection and prosecution; and Monitoring and Evaluation, was established and designed in 2013 to assist local governments in creating child labor-free communities.
“The Department of Health (DOH) is with us to take care of the nutrition and other health concerns of our children,” he said.
He also said that the Department of Education (DepEd), the Commission on Higher Education (Ched) and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (Tesda) will ensure that children will have quality education and trainings.
“Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Social Work and Development (DSWD), and the [DOLE] is here also to provide assistance through livelihood to the parents of our child labors,” Suyao said.
DOLE has also partnered with the Department of Justice (DOJ) for the prevention, protection and prosecution. They have also invited the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) and other non-government agencies for the monitoring and evaluation.
Suyao said that 60 percent of the cases of child labor come from the agricultural sector.
“It’s understandable because if the parents are farmers, they will bring their children to where they work and later on the children will learn to work for themselves,” he said.
The Republic Act 9231, otherwise known as Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, is declared to be “the policy of the State to provide special protection to children from all forms of abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation and discrimination, and other conditions prejudicial to their development including child labor and its worst forms.”(davaotoday.com)
