ILOILO City – Since 2022, 694 poor parents in Western Visayas have received a total of P14,417,070.23 livelihood assistance from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Region 6.
The objective was to stop child labor, according to John Mandario, information officer of DOLE-6.
The assistance was under DOLE’s Kabuhayan Program for Parents of Child Laborers (PCL).
In 2022, P6,733,029.52 was released to 262 parents and P7,684,040.71 so far this year to 432 parents.
Livelihood covered by the assistance included farming, fishing, retailing, service-based, production, and off-farm projects.
“May profiling nga ginahimu. It takes time para ma-ascertain nga ang parents are really parents of children nga classified as child laborers. Ginakadtoan, gina-interview and ginalantaw gid ang status,” Mandario told Panay News.
A child laborer is one that is engaged in hazardous work harmful to the child’s physical and mental development and deprives the child of the right to childhood.
“The work of these children deprives them from going to school,” added Mandario.
DOLE-6 monitors the beneficiary-parents to ensure that the livelihood assistance are effectively utilized.
Mandario said the parents are also made to attend livelihood trainings and seminars on the rights of children.
In 2002 DOLE-6 was able to profile 12,800 child laborers. Mandario said their parents were given livelihood assistance and the children themselves were referred to the Department of Education and Department of Social Welfare and Development for other appropriate interventions.
On June 12, DOLE-6 marked the 2023 World Day Against Child Labor themed “Buong Bansa, Lahat ng Bata, Sama-sama para sa Batang Malaya.”
Regional Director Sixto Rodriguez Jr. led the signing of the “pledge of commitment” to combat child labor and uphold children’s rights.
The ceremony was held in Bacolod City.
“We, partners and advocates of the plight against child labor commit to support the implementation of the Philippine Program Against Child Labor (PPACL) Strategic Framework 2023-2028,”part of the pledge of commitment read.
In 2019 then President Rodrigo Duterte issued an executive orde institutionalizing the National Council Against Child Labor to Upscale the implementation of the Philippine Program against Child Labor./PN
