Quezon City Mayor Joy Belmonte on Sunday, Nov. 19,  urged city government, local police, schools, and villages officials to improve the gathering of data on child abuse and other issues related to the youth so that they can  provide better services to them.

She issued the call during her fifth State of the Children Address at the Quezon Memorial Circle Covered Court, which was attended by Quezon City Police District (QCPD) Director Gen. Redrico Maranan, city councilors, city department heads and employees, Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials, guests, youth representatives, children and their parents.

Belmonte said that although the city has programs for different issues like online sexual and exploitation of children (OSAEC), child labor and abuse, children's mental health, children-at-risk (CAR), children in conflict with the law (CICL), education, and nutrition, the data gathered by concerned agencies sometimes do not match with each other which makes it difficult to fully bring right and enough interventions to those who are in need.

She said the city must have proper and complete data on these concerns so that the cases as well as other problems related to children will be reduced.

In her speech, Belmonte shared that there are only 24 out of more then 47,000 violence against women and children (VAWC) cases that were reported to them through Helpline 122.

Helpline 122 was launched for residents and city visitors to contact the local government and report various incidents and concerns and share suggestions for them to be able to improve the delivery of services to the public.

The mayor encouraged children and  residents to call the city's Helpline 122 to report any cases of child abuse, including child labor, OSAEC, among others, and assured them that they have trained operators who will respond to their concerns.

She said that the helpline will also help the city government in receiving reports on suicide cases and mental health concerns.

Belmonte said the QCPD has reported 15 suicide cases involving the youth,  aged 11-20,  in 2023 (higher than the 12 cases recorded in 2022) but the city does not have proper data on what causes these incidents to happen.

"Ang hamon ko sa mga barangay at police - maging sensitibo at suriin ang mga kaso. Alamin ang pattern o ugat kung bakit laganap ito sa kabataan. Lagi nating alalahanin na bawat biktima ay hindi lang datos, kundi buhay na nangangailangan ng tulong. Maging mas maingat at masusi sana tayo sa paghandle at pagrerecord ng mga kaso lalo pa kung ang sangkot ay kabataan (My challenge to the barangays and the police - be sensitive and investigate the cases. Find out the pattern or root of why it is so prevalent among young people. Let's always remember that every victim is not just data, but a life that needs help. We should be more careful and thorough in handling and recording cases, especially if the person involved is a youth)," she added.

The mayor also said that there are 37 children, 10-19 years old, who are currently registered in their mental wellness hub where they receive counselling and medicines for free. An ordinance was also passed by the city council to address youth mental health.

She added that the data of the city government, police, and schools on child abuse and the situation of the CAR and CICL also do not match.

Belmonte said the QCPD reported 25 rape cases involving CICLs from January to Oct 2023, while the city's Molave Youth Home (a temporary shelter for CICLs) listed around 28 cases and schools haven't identified if the children tagged on the incidents are their students.

She also shared that there are only 400 children (5 years old and below) who were listed by the city government as "wasted" or those eho are too thin for their height, which is different from the more than one thousand that was recorded by the Department of Education (DepEd).

"Napakahalaga kung maayos sana ang datos. Una, dahil matutukoy kung sino ang dapat bigyan ng tulong at ikalawa, malulutas natin ang ugat ng problema kung may koordinasyon ang ating mga tanggapan (It would be very important if the data were in order. First, because it will determine who should be given help, and secondly, we will solve the root of the problem if our offices have  coordination)," she said.

During the event, Belmonte and the city government launched the online QC Unified Referral System which aims to aid the concerns in tracking,  recording, and reporting of child and gender-related cases and their welfare.

The system will  be used by villages, schools, Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Advisory Council, Social Services Department, and the police in collecting data on the situation of the childten in the city.

"Inaasahan nating hindi na madodoble ang bilang ng mga kaso at magkakaroon na tayo ng malinaw at kumpletong datos tungkol sa lagay ng kabataan. So next year, sa ulat ko, dapat parehas ang datos ng police, ng lungsod, nh barangay at ng paaralan or DepEd (We hope that the number of cases will not double and that we will have clear and complete data about the situation of the youth. So next year, in my report, the data of the police, the city, barangay and the school or DepEd should be the same)," the mayor said.

She also reported that there are around 2,000  children who were victims of child labor and their parents were already given educational and livelihood aid following the rescue operations by city personnel.

Housing programs and other interventions for children and their families who live near danger zones like waterways and highways and were affected by flooding were also launched.

Belmonte also urged the schools, elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan officials to prioritize the OSAEC cases, nutrition, illeteracy, environment/climate change and establish more day care centers for children in their areas.

"Sabi nga sa akin ng  UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Fund),  ilan lang ang mga mayor sa Pilipinas ang umaamin na may problema sila. Lagi nalang pag State of the Children [Address], puro nalang magaganda, rosy picture ang ipinapakita. Pero ako hindi ako natatakot banggitin [na] may problema tayo sa datos. Kailangan tugunan natin ang problemang ito (As UNICEF (United Nations International Children's Fund) told me, only a few mayors in the Philippines admit that they have a problem. During their State of the Children [Address], only  beautiful, rosy pictures are shown. But I'm not afraid to mention [that] we have a problem on the data. We need to address this problem)," she said.

The mayor also shared that about P4.1 billion or 95 percent of the P4.3 billion budget allocated by the city for the youth were used in creating and implementing programs for children that will help in their development.

"Dito sa Quezon City, ipinapakita natin ang ating commitment na itaguyod ang kapakanan ng kabataan, sa kalidad ng ating pamamahala, mga batas na ipinapada, mga programang inilulunsad at budget na inilalaan (Here in Quezon City, we show our commitment to promote the welfare of the youth, in the quality of our management, laws that are passed, programs that are launched and budget that is allocated)," she said.

Belmonte, Vice President Dara Duterte, and representatives from UNICEF led the  “Ngayon, Para Bukas: A Call for Collective Climate Action" event that highlighted different programs and projects on children in the country that tackle the changing world and the impact of climate change on the people.

“(The) youth are our most active force in nation-building and we must maximize their skills and talents to secure the success of our climate change initiatives,” Mayor Belmonte said.