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Social welfare dept takes a firm stand against child labor, to join Makiisa#1MBatangMalaya campaign

MANILA, Jan. 11 (PNA) -- The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) on Thursday will launch a program that aims to combat child labor in the country.

Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo noted that due to widespread and deep-seated poverty in the Philippines, many children are forced to give up their childhood and become workers in factories, mines and plantations, so they could earn meager wages they can give to their parents.

To end child labor, she said, comprehensive actions must be done to help the parents of these children.

“There are already ongoing efforts to help parents to secure gainful and sustainable employment, and these efforts should be complemented with programs to help their children,” Taguiwalo said.

The DSWD is already carrying out the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), which helps some 4 million households from the poorest families in the country, send their children to school. Being in school, however, is not an assurance that children will not engage in child labor. “We should all work together to bring an end to child labor and help children recover their childhood,” the social welfare chief said.

The department’s event on Thursday, dubbed the “Makiisa #1MBatangMalaya: One with Children in Ending Child Labor”, will launch the SHIELD Project or the Strategic Help Desks for Information, Livelihood and other Development Interventions against Child Labor.

SHIELD aims to strengthen efforts at the local level by opening help desks and a local registry on child labor for referral and convergence of support services. It will focus on areas with a high incidence of child labor to create an impact and make services more available to children and their families. Interventions will be based on data from the Child Labor Local Registry.

SHIELD will target children engaged in the Worst Forms of Child Labor (WFCL), as well as their families and communities in the pilot areas. Three target areas have been chosen -- deep-sea fishing communities in Catanuan, Quezon in the Calabarzon region; mining and quarrying communities in Labor, Paracale and Jose Panganiban, Camarines Norte in the Bicol region; and commercial agriculture areas in Kananga and Ormoc in the eastern Visayas region. (PNA)

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