MikeLigalig.com

by pna.gov.ph

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) regional office has launched the Child Labor-Free Barangay program in Barangay Pandacaqui, Mexico during the weekend.

DOLE regional director Raymundo Agravante said the activity was part of their continuing effort to raise awareness on the Philippine Child Labor Program in the grassroots level in Central Luzon.

A pledge of commitment of support was signed during the launching ceremonies among DOLE representative and other stakeholders to ensure that the programs and interventions to uphold the rights of children will be fully implemented

Based on the report of the DOLE Pampanga field office, Barangay Pandacaqui has the highest record of child labor where children,ages 17 and below, were compelled to work as vendors or tri-wheeler drivers to help their parents.

"We will continuously exert efforts and intensify our programs to curb the rising child labor in the barangay and the whole region," Agravante added.

The 2011 Survey on Children of the National Statistics Office (NSO) showed that out of 29 million Filipino children aged 5 to 17, roughly 5.5 million are working children, of which almost three million were in hazardous jobs.

Of this number, more than 55.1 percent or 3.02 million were counted as child labor while 2.99 million are exposed to hazardous form of child labor.

Central Luzon has the highest incidence of hazardous child labor in the country with 10.6 percent, followed by Bicol (10.2 per cent), Western Visayas (8.5 per cent), Northern Mindanao (8.2 per cent) and Central Visayas (7.3 percent).

During the launching, the Barangay Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) of Barangay Pandacaqui and the local government unit of Mexico pledged their support in preventing and eliminating child labor in their community.

“I am confident that your commitment in this endeavor will ensure that our efforts in making Pandacaqui a Child Labor-Free Barangay, would not be put to waste,” Agravante said.

Barangay chairman Carmelino D. Tayao, on behalf of the barangay officials, expressed his appreciation to the DOLE’s help in eliminating child labor in his community.

Marilou Esteban, a 38 year old widow and a mother of four children, expressed high hopes for the program, saying “the DOLE has a very good program, especially for the poor. I hope that through their programs, I can send my children back to school.”

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