CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – Since it started the implementation of Project Against Child Exploitation (ACE) in this city in September 2020, World Vision Philippines said it is still beset with challenges, including the unfamiliarity of some barangays with the real meaning of child labor.
A PERSONNEL from the Cagayan de Oro City Field Office of the Department of Labor and Employment-Region 10 conducts a profiling activity with a child laborer in a barangay in Cagayan de Oro City on April 12, 2022. (File photo courtesy of the DOLE Cagayan de Oro City Field Office Facebook page)
Jovie Sorongon, field coordinator of Project ACE in Cagayan de Oro, said child labor issues here were minimal in the early part of the project implementation because their focus then was on human trafficking.
"That was really one of our challenges on how to strengthen our advocacies of child labor in the city, even in the barangays," Sorongon said in a mix of English and vernacular in an interview on Friday, June 9.
Sorongon said that indeed there were parents who were unable to comprehend the difference between child labor and child work.
According to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), child work is a light work which aims to teach children responsibility, while child labor is hazardous and exploitative, which deprives children of their right to health and education.
Under Republic Act No. 9231 (An Act providing for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor and affording stronger protection for the working child), children below 15-years-old shall not be employed, except when a child works directly under the sole responsibility of his or her parent or legal guardian and the child’s employment neither endangers his or her life, safety, health, or morals, nor impairs his or her normal development.
In addition, the parent or legal guardian shall provide the child with the prescribed primary and secondary education.
As to the initiative taken in addressing the challenge, WVP trained the different Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) focal persons here to be knowledgeable of the difference between child labor and child work. This would also improve the referral system for those concerned citizens who would want to report possible violations of RA 9231.
According to the Working Children Situation released by the Philippine Statistics Authority on March 3, 2023, Northern Mindanao (Region 10) posted the highest proportion of working children from the national figure, with 12.5 percent in 2021.
Meanwhile, the agriculture sector consistently reported the highest proportion of working children, registering 45.7 percent in 2021.
DEPARTMENT of Labor and Employment-Region 10 OIC Director Estrella Uy-Pahalla, ChildFund Philippines project coordinator Alvin Dumduman, and World Vision Philippines Project ACE Cagayan de Oro City field coordinator Jovie Sorongon prepare for the question-and-answer portion during the 125th Kalayaan Job Fair-cum-Batang Malaya (World Day Against Child Labor) 2023 press conference in Cagayan de Oro on Friday, June 9. (Franck Dick Rosete)
As part of the activities of DOLE-Region 10 in celebration of the 125th anniversary of Philippine Independence, the agency profiled a total of 1,254 parents and guardians of child laborers in Northern Mindanao, and they will be given livelihood starter kits.
The DOLE-10 has allocated P24,281,250 worth of funds for the said assistance, and the agency also assured post-activity monitoring to ensure that the assistance given to the beneficiaries is properly used.
Sorongon said Project ACE, which is funded by the United States Department of Labor, is supposed to end in September this year.
However, it was being extended for another year due to the interventions and initiatives of the Philippine government in addressing child labor and exploitation.
The project has three pilot areas here, Barangays Cugman, Gusa, and Puntod.
Sorongon said that WVP assured that the 80 barangays in the city, especially the chairpersons and BCPC focal persons, are always invited to its capacity building and other related activities.
Apart from providing assistance to the parents and guardians of the child laborers, the region’s labor and employment agency will conduct job fair on June 12 in a mall on Claro M. Recto Ave. in this city.
DOLE-10 OIC Director Estrella Uy-Pahalla said the agency invited a total of 68 employers across the region – 63 from local and five from overseas. The job fair will offer 3,242 job openings from local employers and 1,582 jobs from overseas.