
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has enhanced its efforts to closely monitor identified child laborers and facilitate their removal from exploitative work conditions.
“We will continue to strengthen and intensify our efforts to achieve a child-labor-free Philippines,” DOLE – Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns Director Ahmma Charisma Lobrin-Satumba said.
Satumba presented the country’s anti-child labor efforts during the International Public Information Sharing for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from May 27 to 30 in Manila.
Satumba highlighted that current efforts are guided by national plans, including the Philippine Program Against Child Labor (PPACL), aligned with the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028 and the Labor and Employment Plan 2023-2028.
These initiatives aim to eliminate child labor, including its worst forms, and reduce the number of child laborers by 100 percent by 2028.
She emphasized PPACL's mission to empower child laborers and their communities, focusing on prevention, healing, and integration into society.
“It is working towards the prevention and progressive elimination of child labor through protection, withdrawal, healing, and integration of child workers into a caring society and supports the alleviation of extreme poverty, which has been the main cause of child labor in the country,” she said.
The BWSC director shared a success story of a child rescued from labor, highlighting the support provided under PPACL, such as profiling, livelihood assistance, and family support services.