Senate Oks Magna Carta for working kids

The Manila Bulletin
September 5, 2003

The Senate yesterday approved on third reading SB 2155, the Magna Carta for Working Children, a measure which seeks to address the problems of child labor in the country.

Senate Majority Leader Loren Legarda said that both chambers of Congress recognize the need for strong protection against child labor as the House has already approved its counterpart of the draft law, HB 4235, on third reading.

Legarda, co-author and co-sponsor of SB 2155, said the bill seeks to fulfill the country's commitment to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 138 on Children's Minimum Age for Admission to Employment, an ILO Convention 182 on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor.

The problem of child labor is a most complex one for it holds almost every aspect of our society responsible, Legarda said.

She said child labor is often the result of neglect by helpless parents, exploitative employers, the lack of protection and social support, and government agencies that have remained remiss in their duties to ensure that the rights of children are safeguarded.

"The problem of child labor is so complex and deserves a solution. With the passage into law of this bill, a comprehensive and workable remedial measure could effectively address the root of child labor problems in the country," Legarda said.

The 2001 survey on working children conducted by the National Statistics Office showed that about one in six Filipino children has to work to support his family.

Statistics showed that four million our of 25 million Filipino children aged five to 17 years old are "economically active," Legarda said.

The survey also showed that seven out of 10 children work in rural areas, mostly in Southern Tagalog, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Bicol, and Southern Mindanao.

Legarda said "it is quite disturbing that an estimated 1.1 million children face physical hazards from heavy work and work-related injuries and illnesses brought about by economic difficulties."

"Out of four million working children, 65 percent attended school. The schooling of 1.2 million children suffered due to work, and two out of five children dropped out of school," she added.

Legarda thanked her colleagues in the Senate for supporting the measure.

"These children will be children only once. We owe our future to our children, and we should act now before it is too late," Legarda said.

On another score, Legarda said that drug pushers have become more cunning in peddling their "merchandise of death" since she exposed in March 2002, the use of minors as drug couriers in Negros Occidental.

Legarda deplored the continued use of children in the illegal drugs trade as she stressed anew the need to amend the Philippine justice and penal system to make it more compassionate towards underaged offenders.

"These children forced into the drug trade are themselves victims and should be treated with compassion and understanding," Legarda said. "The adults who exploit these children should be made to suffer the penalty for the offense committed by the minors they employed in their dastardly deeds."

Last year, Legarda called attention to the use of children as drug couriers and direct sellers in San Carlos City and expressed belief that the modus operandi was not limited to the region.

Negros Occidental police chief Senior Supt. Gaeary Barias said that the police have no choice but to charge in court minors distributing drugs.