The Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) has vowed to reduce the number of child laborers in the country, which now stands at more than 1 million.
“The Marcos administration remains steadfast in prioritizing the elimination of child labor in the country. Under Chapter 3 of the Philippine Development Plan 2023-2028, the target for the indicator number of child laborers is zero,” Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said in a statement.
According to the Special Release on Working Children Situation for 2019 to 2021 published by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) posted on March 3, there were 1.37 million working children, 935,000 of whom were engaged in child labor.
The report also identified the agriculture sector as the top industry with the most child laborers and tagged Northern Mindanao Region with the highest child labor incidence.
With the increased number of child laborers, the Department doubled its efforts in monitoring profiled child laborers to facilitate their removal from child labor.
“The DOLE has been implementing the Child Labor Prevention and Elimination Program that provides services to them and their families through direct intervention or referral to appropriate agencies and organizations,” the DOLE chief said.
From 2018-2022, the DOLE has profiled 620,556 child laborers, referred 614,066 to appropriate agencies and organizations, provided 138,460 essential services, and withdrawn 148,248 from child labor. For 2023, the DOLE will prioritize monitoring 160,288 child laborers profiled in 2022.
He said the DOLE will continue to conduct various advocacy activities using quad-media platforms to raise awareness and gather support in the campaign against child labor, strengthen the capacity of DOLE Regional Offices and labor inspectors, social partners, and other stakeholders at the national and local levels.