Inevitable or ‘solutionable’

Republic Act No. 7658, as affirmed, is “An act prohibiting the employment of children below 15 years of age in public and private undertakings…”

Whatever that law utters, child labor is still an immense dilemma of our country nowadays and yet, is still growing. After a survey conducted by the National Statistics Office (NSO), DOLE secretary Rosalinda Baldoz said that, “As of October 2011, there are 5.49 million working children aged five to 17 years. 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.”

With this wow-number of children in labors and the fact that 33% of the population is composed by children ages 5 to 17 years old that marks Philippines as a young nation, it just the same thing despite of the implementations of many anti-child labor programs that started since 1995 under the presidency of Fidel V. Ramos.  

     The issue here is: why do children need to work in their very young age?

A little girl working in a mining area with her shovel
image source: www.newspaper.li/child-labor

Child labors could also be found in some illegal mining areas and banana plantations which are notorious in Davao and its neighboring provinces.     The common child labor in the provinces can be found in the sugarcane plantations. Most parents cannot have their children finish their schooling because of poverty so they are forced to give up the education of their children and have their children worked in plantations. In a 2010, DSWD Bukidnon shows that 22% of children aged 6 to 16 have stopped schooling.

Above are just few child labors present in the country. If you are asking if there are girls who are present in this kind of illegal action, the answer is yes! And the worst is, prostitution is the common among the child labors among girls. Girls involved in prostitution are susceptible to rape, murder, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.  

With the increasing number of prostitution among children, it can be considered as inevitable in spite of the passing of R.A. 9208, the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, a penal law against human trafficking, sex tourism, slavery and child prostitution.

But still, the labor chief expressed confidence that the government would still be able to meet its target to reduce the number of child laborers in the country, as stated in the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Who and what affects it?

As avowed in the Presidential Decree no. 603 or The Child and Youth Welfare Code, the child is one of the most important assets of the nation. Every effort should be exerted to promote his welfare and enhance his opportunities for a useful and happy life.

There are 2.5 children out of 22.4 children are unaware with this kind of indulgence, claimed by the Department of Labor and Employment, DOLE.

A sampaguita vendor along the
streets waiting for a buyer.
image source: google image

These are some several factors:     

First is COMMUNITY. Everything a child does correspond to the kind of surrounding he/she lives in. The lifestyle of their playmates, neighbors and the people who are connected to him affects the ethics of a child. Children learn not the way he was taught but the way his environment acts. Every child deserves to live in a good shelter.

Second is EDUCATION. A child without a good education marks the weakness of his intellectual growth. Children need to learn…Learning in the way he/she enjoys every lessons that he listens.  Education teaches a child with the values of life.

Third and the most important is FAMILY. Are you familiar with this quotation, “Sa mata ng isang bata, ang isang pagkakamali ay nagiging tama kung ito ay ginagawa ng mas matanda”? Parents must act as a model for they will guide their children to the path they will take.

Child labor can be only prevented if and only if all of us are aware with this kind of misunderstanding. Take ourselves into the reality which we may see the real situation of children beyond on the things we only see.

     “The only reason why child abuse is alive today is because we as adults fail our children when we fail to listen to them.” -- Heather McClane