In a bid to effectively address the persisting problem of child labor in the Philippines, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said on May 29 that it would continue to step up its efforts to combat child labor.

Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns Director Ahmma Charisma Lobrin-Satumba said this in her presentation on the convergence theme during the International Public Information Sharing for ASEAN and other countries in Asia on May 27-30, 2024, in Manila.

“We will continue to strengthen and intensify our efforts to achieve a child-labor-free Philippines,” Satumba said.

The BWSC Director shared with the ASEAN delegates and representatives from different partner agencies that the country’s current efforts against child labor, including its worst forms, are anchored on national plans.

The Philippine Program Against Child Labor (PPACL) which serves as the country’s national program for the prevention and elimination of child labor is guided by the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, and the Labor and Employment Plan 2023-2028, to implement strategies that include holistic approach to address child labor targeting to decrease the number of child laborers by 100% in 2028.

Director Satumba emphasized that the mission of the PPACL is to transform the lives of child laborers and their families and communities toward their sense of self-worth, empowerment, and development.

“It is working towards the prevention and progressive elimination of child labor through protection, withdrawal, healing, and integration of child workers into a caring society and supports the alleviation of extreme poverty, which has been the main cause of child labor in the country,” she added.

Satumba concluded her presentation by featuring a success story of a child who the Philippine government removed from child labor through the provision of assistance offered under the PPACL.

The services include profiling child laborers and providing them and their families with appropriate services, such as livelihood assistance to support their living.

The three-day international information-sharing event centered its discussion on enforcement, family and child victim care, and convergence strategies to combat the worst forms of child labor, including online sexual abuse and exploitation of children and violations of acceptable conditions of work.