DOLE: 473 child laborers found In Ifugao

LAGAWE, Ifugao -- The 15 interns hired by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) under its   Government Internship Program (GIP) for child labor concerns have profiled 473 actual child laborers in the province from July to November this year.

Roxie Diane Bandao who was employed as the Community Coordinator for the project presented the result of their work during the inter-agency meeting attended by heads and representatives of the different national and local government agencies in the province.

This is to solicit their assistance in eradicating the worst form of child labor in the province and in the whole country pursuant to Republic Act 9231 that provides special protection to children from all forms of abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation and discrimination and other conditions prejudicial to their development.

Bandao reported that out of the 674 children they surveyed and profiled from July until last month, they discovered that 473 are actual child laborers with 40% who are 14 years old and below working in construction firms, 48% are laborers in farming, 10% in transportation and 2% in other forms of child labor.

There are also 40% of child laborers who are 15 to 17 years working in construction, 45% in farming, 10% in transportation and 5% in other forms of child labor.

In the profiling, information on the names, location and specific needs of the child laborers and their families will serve as bases in the provision of services and intervention necessary to remove them from child labor.

The LGUs are encouraged to assist and provide the necessary assistance to the DOLE by identifying and profiling the child laborers and their families, assess their needs, conduct referrals, provide the necessary services and monitor the status of the child laborers until they are removed from child labor.

In the 2011 survey on children, it provides the estimates on child labor incidence at the regional level but does not provide the names and location of the child laborers.

A child refers to any person less than 18 years of age while child labor refers to any work or economic activity performed by a child that subjects him or her to any form of exploitation or is harmful to his or her health and safety or physical, mental or psychosocial development.

On the other hand , a working child is a child 18 years of age who performs work or economic activity that is not child labor or a child 15 years of age who is either working directly under the responsibility of his or her parents or legal guardian or in public entertainment  or information.

Meanwhile, the National Child Labor Committee chaired by the DOLE has agreed to target 630,000 children to be removed from child labor by 2022 which is 30% of the 2.1 million children engaged in child labor based on the 2011 survey.

DOLE-Ifugao Provincial Field Officer Samuel Lasdacan said that the profiling of child laborers in the province will continue next year until 2022.(JDP/DBC-PIA CAR, Ifugao)