DOLE: 90K child laborers rescued since 2018

At least 90,000 children have been rescued from doing harmful work since the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) started profiling child laborers in 2018.

In a statement, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the initiative aims to make a database that will “serve as a basis for providing appropriate services and interventions necessary to remove children from child labor.”

In 2018, DOLE released guidelines on the profiling of child laborers to effectively draw them away from worst forms of child labor and exploitation. Since then, the agency has collected the key demographic information of about 400,000 child laborers nationwide.

Based on the guidelines, child labor refers to any work or economic activity performed by children under 18 years of age that subject them to any form of exploitation.

It also pointed out that exploitation is harmful to the health and safety or physical, mental, or psychological development of the child.

Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority, DOLE said about 597,000 children are still engaged in child labor, and most of which come from the agriculture sector.

Online child abuse

Meanwhile, DOLE reported that the cases of online sex abuse and exploitation in children reached 264% amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This “alarming” rate of increase could be attributed to the Philippines’ affordable and easily accessible internet packages, according to a study by the Institute of Labor Studies (ILS).

“Affordable internet access also contributes to enabling impoverished households to participate in this money-making scheme,” ILS Researcher Frances Camille Dumalaog said during a summit.

Other reasons for the proliferation of online sex abuse and exploitation among children in the country could be due to the robust money transfer infrastructure, high proficiency in the English language, and widespread poverty, the study noted.

To help address the issue of poverty in the country, DOLE said it provides a number of social amelioration packages for families of identified child laborers.

“Through the [profiling] database, DOLE can identify and provide appropriate interventions to remove children from child labor. These include providing livelihood assistance programs for parents of child laborers given that they will stop engaging their children in hazardous work,” DOLE – Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns Director Atty. Ma. Karina Perida-Trayvilla said.

DOLE’s Project Angel Tree, Special Program for Employment of Students, and intensified Labor Inspection program are also some of the agency’s programs to help solve the child labor problem in the country.

DOLE’s profiling is aligned with the Philippine Development Plan 2017–2022, which targets to reduce the child labor cases by 30%. — Giselle Ombay/RSJ, GMA News