We thank you for your relentless and dedicated efforts to help pass the Magna Carta for Household Helpers. However, it still faces difficulties in the Senate and a looming deadline before the elections come May 2004. To help spread the spirit of the magna carta, click the poster and sticker icons below to have your own print ready copies at home.

GLOBAL MARCH MOVEMENT CALLS ON PRESIDENT NOT TO VETO THE ANTI-CHILD LABOR BILL

"PLEASE SIGN THE BILL, MADAME PRESIDENT. DO NOT VETO THE LIVES OF THESE CHILDREN", is the united call of the Global March Against Child Labor, a movement of organizations that advocate for the elimination of child labor in the Philippines. The multisectoral alliance is pertaining to the Anti-Child Labor bill, which is now in its final stage awaiting the President's signature.

The group has expressed its concern after reports that the President has been receiving pressure from the entertainment industry to veto the bill because of certain provisions on child workers, particularly on the prohibition of night work and limitation on the number of working hours. The said bill has caused alarm over certain groups in the entertainment industry because of its effect on the roster of child stars they employ.

"To veto this bill would be a political blunder on the part of the Arroyo Administration", Ma. Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, President of Visayan Forum Foundation and regional coordinator of the Global March Against Child Labour, declared. She further states that "to veto the bill would signal to the international community that her administration is not sincere in its commitment to protect its children from child labor exploitation. The concerns of the entertainment industry are valid, but these are concerns that can be addressed in the Implementing Rules and Regulations when the bill is passed into law."

The Philippines has ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, ILO Convention 138 on the Minimum Age of Employment and ILO Convention 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor. The Philippines has been touted by the United Nations (UN) and the International Labor Organization (ILO) for being a leader in Southeast Asia and the Pacific for its policies and programs on the elimination of the worst forms of child labor.

The Child Labor bill, given that the President signs it, would be the first in the Southeast Asian region to act as an enabling law on the international instruments that the country has ratified.

"The lives of four million children are now in your hands, Madam President", Flores-Oebanda adds. "If you believe this country is for our children, allow us to see you reaffirm your belief now."

According to the National Statistics Office 2001 survey, there are about 4 million children in the Philippines who are engaged in child work, many of whom are subjected into worst forms of child labor. Thirty-percent of the 4 million working children are not attending school.

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