Krisha Dizon FINAL Draft

En 12 R47 Dr. Lulu Reyes

Thesis Statement: The worst forms of child labor still rampantly exists in our country despite the

continuous fights against it because the implementation of child labor laws by our government,

particularly RA 9231 Section 12-D, is ineffective since they are hampered by enforcement

problems.

Children Who Become Adults Too Early

Child Labor has a vast definition and in the Philippines, through the Department of Labor

and Employment, it is defined as “the illegal employment of children below the age of fifteen,

where they are not directly under the sole responsibility of their parents or legal guardian, or the

latter employs other workers apart from their children, who are not members of their families, or

their work endangers their life, safety, health and morals or impairs their normal development or

schooling. It also includes the situation of children below the age of eighteen who are employed

in hazardous occupations (DOLE unpublished reports).” Given this specific definition, one could

see that this is truly an economical problem that continues to trouble numerous countries

particularly third world ones. In a report by the International Monetary Fund last April 2010, our

country is the 86th out of the 192 countries in terms of being a third country based on the Gross

National Income. Since child labor is also rooted in poverty, it could be concluded that the

Philippines is a place where this issue continues to exist.

Because of this alarming issue, a number of laws such as Act. No. 3071, R.A. 769, R.A.

7658, R.A. 7610, and eventually, R.A. 9231 were created particularly for the prevention of the

increase in the number of known cases. As the years went by, our government noticed the need

to further strengthen the previous law enacted. This lead to the evolution of laws which

strengthened the rights of the working children. We can see from this that they are still exerting

efforts so as to prevent child labor cases from increasing. Our government is not the only one

striving to eliminate child labor. Various organizations such as the ILO and Visayan Forum also

shout out to the media, non- governmental agencies, and religious and community groups in push

for social change. Unfortunately, lack of communication is present between these two

organizations, thus the former ends up doing more effective actions compared to the latter. A

statement from the director of DSWD’S social technology program, Gemma Gabuya, exhibits

this issue.

“We would like to emphasize when it comes to protecting our women

and children, there have been laws addressing the problem. However,

when it comes to regulation, there are many agencies mandated to do

so. In DSWD, our regulations deal more on psychosocial services that

are provided by the government organizations, non-government

organizations.”

This is not right because the government is seen as to playing three major roles: creating the

legal and administrative framework for the anti-child labor campaign, providing resources and

infrastructures, and serving as overall coordinators of initiatives (Engracia et.al. 77). If they are

able to create the legal framework for the mentioned campaign, then they must also be

responsible for the effective implementation of this by accomplishing the other two roles that the

society views them to be responsible for. Clearly, child labor laws would be ineffective and

enforcement problems will continue to be present if our government continues to rely upon

others for the fight against child labor.

On December 19, 2003, R.A 9231 or “an act providing for the elimination of the worst

forms of child labor and affording stronger protection for the working child” was enacted. Worst

forms of labor refer to all forms of slavery, prostitution, illicit or illegal activities, and hazardous

or morally questionable occupations. The new law basically amended RA 7610 and added new

sections to it so as to further meet the protection that children deserved. Section 12 D is one of

the recently added sections which emphasizes the prohibitions against the worst forms of child

labor by stating that “no child must be engaged in the worst form of child labor.” However,

despite this law being enacted for almost 8 years already, a remarkable change for the better has

not yet been truly visible to our society. The US Department of Labor seems to affirm this

statement in a report submitted last December 15.

“The Philippines is one of over 120 countries where the “worst forms of

child labor” continue to exist, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and often

denying children the chance to attend school and learn the skills they

need to become productive adults.”

This report must serve as an eye opener for us Filipinos about the current situation of this social

dilemma in our country.

In the same report by the US Department of Labor, the number of various projects all

intended to suppress this issue is one evidence that our government uses to point out their claim

that they still are doing their best to combat child labor. DOLE, which is responsible for the

enforcement of child labor laws, claims to have lead innovative community based mechanism for

detecting, monitoring, and reporting children working in abusive and hazardous situations

through “ Sagip Batang Manggagawa” (US Labor Reports, 542). There is also the existence of

“Child 21” and “PPACL” or Philippine Program against Child Labor. It is basically our primary

government policy instrument to prevent and eliminate child labor in our country within 2007-

2015. Under this, there are several more other programs all intended for the same purpose but we

now take note of MTPDP or Medium Team Philippine Development Plan. Its aimed timeframe

was from 2004 until 2010. It aims to reduce incidence on child labor, especially in hazardous

occupations through strengthening monitoring systems of child protection laws, developing

social technologies to monitor child trafficking and child pornography, which are both worst

forms of child labor, and implementing programs for the children in armed conflict (US Labor

Reports, 543). We are currently living in the year 2011 and still, all these plans have not yet been

achieved as evidenced by their own statement. According to DOLE, they currently have 153

inspectors who have the authority to monitor for child labor violations as part of their general

labor law compliance. Obviously, such a number is not enough to detect the rampant child labor

occurrences throughout our country. With respect to how child trafficking cases improved over

the years, metropolitanmanila.com stated last February 2010 “the government are doing a lot

efforts to solve the problem about child trafficking.” Contrary to this statement, the national

coordinator for Philippines Against Child Trafficking or PACT, Ma. Salome Ujano, said that

“While we have current legislation, there is still a high number of children continuing to be

trafficked, via sexual or labor exploitation. I think there were less than 20 convictions since the

RA 9208 was passed, that’s very low. It follows also that the prosecution of traffickers is low.”

Clearly, a lot of actions have yet to be done. This is also another proof that MTPDP is a failure.

In a span of 7 years, despite plans and goals, this worst form of child labor continues to be big of

an issue. The reason on why MTPDP was not been properly implemented, according to DOLE,

is the lack of funds to support such plans. This claim is questionable because, based on research,

it was discovered that the U.S continues to provide our country with large amounts of money for

the betterment of our anti-child labor campaigns.

Corruption is a huge problem that, if banished, may lead to a serious benefit of child

laborers and even their families. Mgr. Broderick S. Pabillo, auxiliary bishop of Manila,

acknowledges the existence of this issue in our country through his statement.

“ The political class is wasting money that is meant to be spent on

socio- economic development projects for the population, using it

instead for their own purposes.”

The US Labor Report shows that the United States greatly funded our country with

approximately $22.4 million for 2002-2013 and approximately $11 million for 2002-2008. All of

these funds are given so as to provide education, supports, and to withdraw and prevent children

from exploitative works. With such a huge amount of money, the government should have

already done various successful projects wherein one could see the apparent betterment of this

unending dilemma. But as of the moment, all that remains is hope that the targeted number of

children may be actually withdrawn from the worst form of child labor by an aimed year. The

amount of money that actually goes to the benefit of the children cannot be exactly determined.

All we know right now is that the programs and projects against child labor is not enough to

truly make a significant change. Our government traces this dilemma back to claiming that our

money is not enough. Now that we know that anti child labor projects are supported by millions

of dollars from an influential country, the question left is where does this money go now.

It was said that the ineffectiveness of the child labor laws is caused by enforcement

problems. These problems pertain to various socio- economic factors, such as corruption, present

in our country that we have yet to face before the mentioned laws could be followed and could

truly provide protection. Before our government could assume that the laws would be sufficient

and effective enough, they must first overcome these enforcement problems. Poverty prevalent in

our country and in most Filipino families is another cause of the ineffectiveness of the law.

Despite the addition of Section 12 D in the amended RA 7610, the worst forms of child labor

would just continue to exist primarily because poor children and their families believe that the

financial gain compensate for the risks involved in these dangerous jobs. Let us take two worst

forms of child labor as an example, Muro-Ami fishing and Child Prostitution. Muro- Ami

fishing involves underwater diving so as to catch reef fishes that are especially difficult to reach.

Usually, adults find discontent in the amount of shared money which makes it difficult for their

recruitment. This leads to employers’ resorting to children despite the given law. Children, on

the other hand, join such operation voluntarily in the belief that they will receive necessary

income for their families. “Estimates suggest that the children, usually swimmers, receive a sum

of between 2,000 and 6,000 pesos after a 12 to 15 hour of toil daily” (Rialp, 8). Minors, at a job

that is legal based on the law, could barely earn this amount of money in just one day. On the

other hand, prostitution is quite similar to Muro- Ami. The main reason why children also

become involved largely is because this pays well. Families sometimes encourage their children

into this so as to boost their income. By spending half a day or a whole night with a client, they

can earn as much as 400 pesos (Rialp p.11). Young female who work as vendors in the morning

usually undertake this activity.

Aside from poverty, the continuous demand for child laborers makes our current

framework of laws incompetent. For example, one could see the reciprocal nature of child

prostitution and tourism in our country. Studies reveal that child prostitution contributes largely

to the increase of tourism in the Philippines. Therefore, a demand for child prostitutes increases

so as a fall in tourism would not be experienced. This leads more people to look for children who

they can urge or traffic into prostitution. Also, an increase in those who voluntarily offer their

services can also be seen.

Another worst form of child labor that we could look at in another angle is Child

domestic work. Given that adults are more experienced and capable of being employed legally in

other jobs, they often find works that have better income, thus domestic work in our country falls

more and more on children. This kind of labor is viewed as something dirty, therefore employers

ought to let somebody else do it for them. Children, particularly those from rural areas, are easily

enticed to work for an employer in Manila with the thought of a better life ahead since almost all

the opportunities are found in the urban area. Generally, according to the International

Labor Organization, employers decide to employ children because they provide cheaper labor

costs, do particular tasks better in terms of speed and quality, more docile and obedient, more

flexible with work time and are more available and because they provide a committed supply of

time than adults because they grow increasingly skilled in the production process over the years.

This phenomenon is just ironic. How would the implemented child laws be effective if our

society would continue to demand for child laborers for the betterment of their businesses?

Child labor cases are mostly hidden in nature. Going back to the domestic child work,

since they are away from their families and are usually just confined within the walls of their

employer’s house, they become “invisible.” With numerous cases just like such and the fact that

there is only a small number of inspectors currently present, a direct and more straightforward

approach is necessary.

An issue of less job opportunities for the adults also continues to plague our country for

quite some time. When children were asked how they could be helped, many answered to give

stable jobs to their parents would be a great deal of help (Lee- Wright, 197). Most of the parents

of poor families encourage their children to work because usually they are either unemployed or

underemployed themselves. According to a report by the Philippine Labor Force Survey in

October 2004, unemployed people reached 3.9 million whereas child laborers reached 4 million.

Of course, this is just a rough estimate of figures, but a close correlation could already be seen

between the two data. By attacking either of the two issues, the other could be alleviated. It is

nice to know that non-governmental organizations such as CPCP and ROAD in Pagsanjan

attacked this issue by helping parents find alternatives to economic dependence on child

prostitution and Muro- Ami fishing. They have set livelihood projects such as poultry and

livestock rearing, and small trading businesses which benefitted around 250 families (Rialp, 60).

Again, beneficial action has been initiated by these organizations whereas the government should

be the one doing majority of the work. Unfortunately, similar productive actions have not yet

been adapted by our government so as to lead to evidences of efficacy. In fact, in former

President Gloria Arroyo’s last State of The Nation Address back in 2009, she boasted of creating

8 million jobs in the past years. Contrary to this claim, Labor Force Surveys from 2005 to 2009

show that only 2.77 million jobs have been provided so far. Generally, an increase in

unemployment of adults leads to an increase of employment of children. If this dilemma in

unemployment would just continue, child labor would just continue to exist and existing laws

would not still be followed.

Children have the tendency to turn to child labor instead because of the poor educational

system in our country. Our government claims through R.A 9155 that basic education must be

accessible to all Filipino children by providing a free and compulsory education in the

elementary level, and free education in the high school level. The problem encountered by this

law before is that these “free” education provided does not mean that one really has to pay for

nothing. In fact, in a documentary by Che-Che Lazaro, it was shown that public schools collect

fees from their students for various reasons. If a student fails to pay the certain amount of money,

he/she may not be enrolled or his/her clearances may not be given. Clearly, this is illegal and if it

continues, the livelihood of their family would greatly be affected. It is a good thing that the

Department of Education decided to act against it and further strengthened their prohibitions

against the collection of fees as seen in the Statement of the Education Secretary, Br. Armin

Luistro.

“If schools are collecting fees, we will be discouraging enrollment

especially among the very poor. This is also why we have taken serious

action against schools officials violating this policy.”

Sadly, this is not the only problem that causes an increase in child labor incidence. According to

local.com, the Philippines has one of the highest drop out rates for public school students. More

often than not, impoverished children do not have anything to eat. As a result, they are too weak

to go to school and they just look for things to do which could feed them, such as engaging into

various occupations. The problem seen here is the lack of readily accessible livelihood programs

which could supplement the labor that children tend to engage in.

DoLe secretary Roasalinda Baldoz emphasizes in one statement another point on why the

recently enacted law is ineffective.

““Children who work at a young age are forced to forego their education and

many other youthful activities in order to contribute to the needs of the family.

Because of their ignorance and vulnerability to abuse, these children fall easy

prey to exploitative child labor and hazardous types of work,”

Clearly, a law will continue to be considered ineffective if the people addressed by it are not

aware that such things exist. Our government must also work harder to let children aware that

they possess such rights.

Aside from problems directly concerning our economy, a look into the existing law

reveals that there also exists a problem within itself. Our current law only requires children until

the age of 11 to attend school whereas the minimum age wherein one can be employed legally,

under specific conditions, is 15. This leads those 12-14 years of age to engage more on the worst

forms of child labor since they are not required to go to school and are not legally permitted to

work. A problem, which can be resolvable by amending the law, can immediately be seen here.

Unfortunately another dilemma arises, the Philippines exhibits such a slow passage of law bills

not to mention, anti child labor bills. From R.A 7610 or “Special Protection of Children against

abuse, exploitation and discrimination act” it took our government almost 11 years to amend this

law to R.A 9231 despite detecting the weakness within it at a much earlier date. Having unclear

and slow moving laws can truly exponentially increase the burden of children.

True enough, Non- governmental organizations and other people’s organization must be

given more credit with regards to initiating social mobilization and providing direct services.

These NGO’s really target a specific group and they formulate programs which will surely be of

benefit in the long run. A statement from Victoria Rialp supports this.

“Most of the advocacy activities on behalf of exploited children in the Philippines

which continue to this day were initiatives or spin off of initiatives taken by the

non-governmental (and a few governmental) groups that began to campaign on

the issue in the early 1980s.”

If the government is responsible for enacting the legal framework concerning these children’s

rights, they might as well make sure that they ones who initiate the proper implementation and

enforcement of laws. There exists a lack of communication between the government and Non-

governmental organizations in this sense because the former believes that the latter is already

doing a lot of positive actions, therefore they assume that much effort is not necessary anymore.

Thus, it all leads back to the ineffectiveness of the child labor laws which. If non-governmental

agencies can succeed in a specific area, then the governmental ones can succeed as well, this

time, on a national level. True enough, they cannot do everything on their own. The help of other

agencies are important as well, but the role of the government is really specific, they should be

the initiator of everything.

Our government does believe that they have significantly done lot of things so as to stop

the rampant social issue currently present in our country. They boast about the large reduction in

these cases since 2005. They are also proud of the plans they have established, notably the

Timebound project, which aims to greatly reduce the worst forms of child labor cases by 75%, 4

years from now. But due to previous experiences, such plans fail to be achieved. Our

government must make sure that they have sufficient resources, dedication, people, and an

organized flow of plans so as this time around, they would already reach their goal. Also, they

must put in mind that laws without proper implementation is just empty in itself. They must

accept the fact that their current actions are not enough. Lack of implementation of laws is still

present, and in order to be able to strengthen this, one must first able to attack the complex roots

of the problem. With all these reasons given, it is shown that the worst forms of child labor still

rampantly exists in our country despite the continuous fight against it because the

implementation of child labor laws by our government, particularly RA 9231 Section 12-D, is

ineffective since they are hampered by enforcement problems.

SOURCES:

* Flores- Oebanda, Ma. Cecilia, Pacis, Roland Romeo and Virgilio Montano. The Kasambahay:

Child Domestic Work in the Philippines: a living experience. Quezon City: International Labor

Office, 2001.

*Atty. Sunga, Ana Janet F. Opening Doors: A Presentation of laws protecting Filipino Child

Workers. Makati City, Philippines: International Labor Organization, 1997.

* Ed. Rodgers, Gerry, Standing, Guy. Child Work, Poverty and Underdevelopment. Geneva 22,

Switzerland: International Labor Office, 1981.

* 2001 Survey on Children 5-17 years old. Geneva 22, Switzerland: International Labor Office,

2003.

* Sakellariou, Chris. Child Labor and Schooling in the Philippines. Singapore: Nanyang

Technological University, 2004.

* Republic Act 9231. The LawPhil Project. <

http://www.lawphil.net/statutes/repacts/ra2003/ra_9231_2003.html > 08 Feb 2011.

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http://angelroar.com/2011/01/b-child-abuse-news/philippines-has-some-of-the-worst-cases-of-

child-abuse> 15 Feb 2011

* Illo, Jeanne Frances I and Sylvia Bagadion- Engracia. For children who toil: a report on

sustainable action against child labor in the Philippines. Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo

De Manila University, 1998.

* United States Department of Labor, 2009 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor -

Philippines, 15 December 2010, available at:

http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/docid/4d4a680fd.html [accessed 22 February 2011]

* Lee-Wright, Peter. Child Slaves. 3 Endsleigh Street, London: Earthscan Publications Lts,

1990.

* GMA News Research, 2009. Targeting 10: 10 million jobs by 2010.

<http://www.gmanews.tv/story/169831/targeting-ten-10-million-jobs-by-2010 > 27

February 2011.

* Spero News, 2010. Philippines: Growing unemployment in the Philippines is also due to

corruption and waste. <http://www.speroforum.com/a/24966/Philippines---Growing-

unemployment-in-the-Philippines-also-due-to-corruption-and-waste > 27 February 2011.

* Metropolitanmanila.com, 2010. Child Trafficking Drive needs to be improved. <

http://www.metropolitanmanila.com/?p=1163> 01 March 2011.

* PhilStar.com, 2010. No Illegal Fees Collection in Public Schools to Continue. <

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=633260&publicationSubCategoryId=442

> 01 March 2011.