By Henrylito D. Tacio
“A former child laborer in Davao del Sur rises above adversity, now attains a dream of attending college,” goes the headline of a news item released by the regional office of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE XI).
Maria dela Cruz (not her real name), now 20, was once a child laborer who lives in barangay Lower Dolo in Bansalan, Davao del Sur. She now goes to college after the DOLE XI provided an intervention to rescue her and her family from deprivation.
“(She) had a childhood filled with hardship and uncertainty,” said the news time. “Her father was the sole breadwinner of the family, spending endless hours in the farm, while her mother was unable to work due to health issues. The burden fell heavily on Maria’s young shoulders, holding back her dreams of going to college.”
When she was 16, she was handpicked by the provincial government of Davao del Sur to be profiled as a child laborer engaged in hazardous working conditions in the agriculture sector for some time.
To rescue children like Maria from the worst forms of labor in the country, the labor department has devised measures and responses through its Child Labor Prevention and Elimination Program (CLPEP).
Among the strategic approaches is the provision of livelihood grants to parents of child laborers through its DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP) or Kabuhayan Program. The intervention is intended to address the economic gap and bring forth immediate augmentations to family incomes.
In July last year, Maria’s mother received a DOLE-assisted livelihood project in the form of a sari-sari store through the DOLE XI-Davao del Sur Field Office. This allowed Maria’s parents to start their own small business and to provide their family with a sustainable source of income.
With this newfound financial stability, her parents were finally able to support Maria in pursuing her dreams of higher education. As for her part, Maria brought so much joy and pride to her parents when she completed her senior high school with flying colors.
A year later, the sari-sari store flourished and the income from the business not only covered their daily needs but also opened an opportunity for them to invest in livestock, particularly hog raising. This additional revenue stream was earmarked for Maria’s college tuition.
“I am deeply grateful to DOLE for the help they have given me. I hope you continue to assist more families like ours. As a student, I aspire to finish my studies, and with that, I am grateful to the department,” Maria was quoted as saying.
Maria’s mother shared the same gratitude. “I am deeply grateful that I am one of those helped by DOLE in terms of livelihood. Since that day, we have had an income source that pays every day while I stay at home. This livelihood assistance is a substantial help to our family, especially for our daughter, Maria, as it became our primary source to fund her and her sibling’s education,” she stressed.
With the unwavering support from DOLE XI and the success of their sari-sari store, Maria’s dream of attending college became a reality. She successfully completed her first year in college and is now preparing for her sophomore year of studies pursuing a degree in Business Management, majoring in Finance Management.
Maria’s story is a testament to the transformative power of the DOLE’s Child Labor Prevention and Elimination Program.
“By addressing the root causes of child labor and providing sustainable livelihood opportunities, the program has not only liberated a young girl from a life of labor but also empowered an entire family to achieve a brighter and more hopeful future,” DOLE XI said in a statement.
The legal definition of child labor, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is “exploitative labor among children below 17 years of age.”
The International Labor Organization (ILO), another UN agency, said child labor is a kind of work that harms children’s well-being and hinders their education, development and future livelihoods. When children have to work long hours, their ability to attend school or skills training is limited, preventing them from gaining education that could help lift them out of poverty in the future.
Davao City, the country’s largest city in terms of land area, is not spared from child labor. Since 2018, over 4000 children have engaged in some form of child labor, according to the Special Office for Children’s Concerns (SOCC). Out of these, 1,200 had been withdrawn from the profile list or are no longer considered working children; while 2,500 are currently receiving social interventions in the form of education and livelihood grants.
Since the start of 2022, at least 556 children in Davao City were profiled as working children, Lariele P. Arce, DOLE Davao City Field Office Senior Employment Officer, reported.
“They go by hardly noticed, moving about in urban areas as if they did not exist. But they are there, and their presence is a strong indictment of the country’s failure to share the wealth with the masses. Children as young as five are working as scavengers, accompanying their older siblings and sometimes their parents as they collect trash that can be sold to junk shops for a few pesos. They are also in factories, in ports, in farms, toiling all day with hardly enough time to rest.”
That was part of an editorial which appeared in the October 8, 2014 issue of Edge Davao. It came out after an earlier report which said: “Instead of playing and learning their ABCs, some children as young as five years old are working as garbage collectors or scavengers in the streets of Davao City.”
But not all child labors are exploitative in nature. This is true in the case of child stars. Nino Muhlach, touted to be the Child Wonder of Philippine Cinema in the 1980s, was only 5 years old when he starred with Fernando Poe, Jr. in Ang Leon at ang Daga. Tessie Agana was only seven when she topbilled in Roberta, the movie that saved Sampaguita Pictures from bankruptcy.
Vilma Santos also started her acting career when she was still a child. When she auditioned for Trudis Liit, she was asked by the panel to sing, dance and cry on cue. The 10-year-old child got the part and for her performance earned the 1963 Best Child Performer award from a film awarding body.
Even in Hollywood, some stars got the break when they appeared in movies as a child. Justin Henry was only eight when he appeared in the 1979 film Kramer vs. Kramer, his first role, in a performance that earned him a nomination for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, the youngest actor to be nominated in any category. Tatum O’Neal was barely eight years old when her father, Ryan, starred with her in Paper Moon. Her debut appearance got her an Oscar trophy for Best Supporting Actress, making her the youngest performer to earn such an award.
The child stars were lucky since they were well-protected by laws. Most child laborers in the country, however, are exploited to the hilt. “Some unscrupulous individuals take advantage of the situation – the innocence of the child on human and labor rights, and cheap labor costs – by employing kids as laborers,” a lawmaker once pointed out.
Take the case of Precious, who shared her story in “Bibili Ka Ba?,” a video documentary that detailed the lives of women in prostitution in Davao City. She came from a very poor family. She was only 4 when she was pushed into the world of prostitution not because she wanted to but because of poverty. If she won’t do it, she said, her younger brothers and sisters would die of hunger.
Being a minor and a victim of gang rape, she decided to use her own body to earn a living and support her siblings. “I didn’t have any choice then,” she said.
“They called me different words which all mean prostitute,” Precious recalled. “They wondered what kind of a woman I am since I got home in the early morning. I was only 14 at that time.”
“Child labor is a complex problem that requires comprehensive solutions driven by moral outrage, personal commitment, community determination and national action,” ILO points out.
Apart from poverty as the principal cause of child labor, there are other contributing factors. The UNICEF lists the following: increasing pattern of family breakdown and weakening of the extended family system and other support groups; high population growth and changing family values and lifestyles which may lead to unwanted children, promiscuity and solo parenthood; poor enforcement of laws due to ignorance of the law, corruption or apathy; socialization of children into work; and support for children’s work in formal education.
“Robbed of their childhood” was the title of the Edge Davao editorial. It said: “Children are especially vulnerable to official neglect, and we see this in the existence of kids who at their young age are forced to work before they can even read. And that is the greater tragedy: already forced to grow up way ahead of their time, their future is also taken away from them because they are unable to go to school.”
In the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 19, verse 14), Jesus rebuked his disciples for turning away a group of children. He told them, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” – ###
Photos courtesy of DOLE XI.
Text and Photo By Henrylito D. Tacio
In the Gospel of Matthew (chapter 19, verse 14), Jesus rebuked his disciples for turning away a group of children. He told them, “Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” –###
