The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has strengthened its effort to eliminate child labor in the province of Iloilo, particularly in corn farming.
Lawyer Sixto T. Rodriguez Jr., regional director of DOLE Region-6, said the interventions they are conducting include engaging parents of identified child laborers in a livelihood project in form of a financial grant that gives them the source of revenue through the department's Integrated Livelihood and Emergency Program (DILEEP).
The DOLE through DILEEP awarded a total of P580,062 financial aid to some 27 parents of kid laborers in Barangay Luca in Ajuy town.
Rodriguez noted that the limited, or even worst non-existence of job opportunities in Ajuy, Iloilo, leads locals here to be trapped in an old culture sending children to toil in farmland to survive everyday living, instead of guiding them to go to school.
The official emphasized the importance of livelihood to keep children from being toiled in corn farming.
“Sweet corn is sweeter if not from the child laborers’ sweat,” Rodriguez said.
The male beneficiaries from the DILEEP will be given a chance to engage in farming and fishing, according to DOLE, while female recipients were sent to sari-sari store ventures, food vending, vegetable gardening, and rice retailing.
“Others ventured into frozen foods retailing, feeds, retailing, and dry goods retailing. One was provided with a diesel engine and fishing gears,” said Rodriguez.