Labor law applies uniformly throughout the country, including the SEZs; however, local political leaders and officials who govern the SEZs attempted to frustrate union organizing efforts by maintaining union-free or strike-free policies. A conflict over interpretation of the SEZ law’s provisions for labor inspection created further obstacles to the enforcement of workers’ rights to organize. DOLE can conduct inspections of local SEZ establishments, although local SEZ directors claimed authority to conduct their own inspections as part of the zones’ privileges intended by congress. Hiring often was controlled tightly through SEZ labor centers. Union successes in organizing in the SEZs have been few and marginal. In the Subic SEZ, only one firm was unionized. Some mainstream unions declined to mount a major unionizing effort in the lower-wage SEZ industries, such as the garment industry. They considered it unpromising in view of both the organizers’ restricted access to the closely guarded zones and the rapid turnover of the young, mainly female, staff who worked on short term contracts in the zones’ many electronics and garment factories.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The law prohibits forced labor, including forced and compulsory labor by children; however, despite the government’s efforts, there were some reports of forced and compulsory labor, particularly by children, mainly in prostitution, drug trafficking, and other areas of the informal sector (see sections 5 and 6.d.). The legal minimum age for employment as a domestic worker is 15. However, an estimated 2.1 million children 17 years of age or younger, including 880,000 under 15, were employed. Some recruiters reportedly brought children to work in Manila or other cities under terms that involved a “loan” advanced to their parents that the children were obliged to repay through their work. The DOLE continued to address the problem of underage workers in family work settings with prosecutions and fines of violators (see sections 5 and 6.d.).
d. Prohibition of Child Labor and Minimum Age for Employment
The law prohibits the employment of children under the age of 15, except under the direct and sole responsibility of parents or guardians, or in cases in which employment in cinema, theater, radio, or television is essential to the integrity of the production. The law allows employment of those between the ages of 15 and 18 for such hours and periods of the day as are determined by the DOLE secretary but forbids the employment of persons less than 18 years of age in hazardous or dangerous work. However, child labor remained a common problem, and a significant number of children were employed in the informal sector of the urban economy or as unpaid family workers in rural areas–some as bonded laborers (see section 6.c.). The government estimated that there were approximately four million working children, about half of whom were exposed to hazardous working environments, such as quarries and mines, docksides, and fishing boats, which are defined in the nation’s laws as among the worst forms of child labor.
Most child labor occurred in the informal economy, often in family settings. The government rarely sought to prosecute a poor family because it had a working child. Nevertheless, the government, in coordination with a number of domestic NGOs and international organizations, implemented programs to develop other, safer options for children, return them to school, and offer families viable economic alternatives to child labor. Although the government made attempts to devote more resources to child labor programs this year, resources remained inadequate.
The government and NGOs implemented programs to prevent the engagement of children in exploitative child labor; they educated communities on child labor and provided counseling and other activities for children. The DOLE and the DepEd worked with NGOs, UNICEF, and the ILO International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor to assist children to return to school. The government also imposed fines and instituted criminal prosecutions for child labor violations in the formal sector, such as in manufacturing. Between January and September, the DOLE continued its efforts to rescue exploited child workers, rescuing 201 minors in 44 different operations, compared with 63 operations involving 151 minors in 2005. The Employers Confederation of the Philippines pursued an active and highly visible program against child labor.
