GMA signs Anti-Child Labor Law

The Global March Against Child Labor will celebrate the signing of the new Anti-Child Labor Law or Republic Act No. 9231 during its sixth anniversary on Saturday, January 17, 2003.

The movement organizers have invited President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to a ceremonial signing of the bill at the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC) in North Avenue.

More than 5,000 children, parents, key officials from government and civil society groups will festively march from the Quezon Memorial Circle at 8 am to the OSHC compound where they will also set up a "Children's Village" for a day filled with games, exhibits and performances by children and various artists.

President Arroyo signed the Anti-Child Labor Law last December 19, 2003, thereby making the Philippines the first country in the international community to pass a model legislation reflective of the widely popular International Labor Organization Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labor.

The new law, which amends its predecessor RA 7610 on child abuse, increases penalties against child labor abusers to up to P1 million and 20 years of imprisonment.

"This is indeed a great victory for the Filipino working child, but we still have to see how our leaders plan to implement this law," says Ma. Cecilia Flores-Oebanda, president of the Visayan Forum Foundation, Inc. and national coordinator of the Global March Against Child Labor.

This yearly event that started since 1998 will also be a neutral venue for political aspirants to dialogue with working children by presenting their platforms on child labor. "The children are very interested to hear what is in store for them. How do candidates plan to address the problem of education, justice, poverty and in seriously implementing this new law?" asks Flores-Oebanda.

Among the candidates invited to the dialogue are Fernando Poe, Jr., Former DepEd Secretary Raul Roco and other senatorial bets.

The National Statistics Office estimates that there are now 4 million child laborers in the country, an 11% growth from 3.7 million in 1996.