CHILD Labor

IN THE PHILIPPINES

BY: DENNISE BERNARDO

 Often defined as work that
deprives children of their
CHILD childhood, their potential and
their dignity, and that is
LABOR harmful to physical and
mental development.
 The EU (European Union)
report said Filipino children
as young as 5 years are
already engaged in child
labor, with the most glaring
incidence of violation
involving the use of drugs for
minors so they could
withstand 16 hours of work in
mining areas.

ACCORDING TO THE MANILA TIMES 2015

 The National Statistics Office
(NSO) has said there are
currently 5.5 million child
laborers aged 5-17 in the
country (Philippines), around
3 million of whom are
exposed to environments that
are considered hazardous
brought about by poor
working conditions.
ACCORDING TO THE MANILA TIMES 2015
The report said the
incidence of child
labor in mining
communities is
14.2 percent, of
which 93.75
percent are boys
and 6.25 percent
are girls.

ACCORDING TO THE MANILA TIMES 2015

 Aside from mining,
there is also an
alarming incidence of
child labor in
sugarcane plantations.

ACCORDING TO THE MANILA TIMES 2015

 “Extreme cases of
worsening working
conditions for child
laborers in
sugarcane
plantations show
how children are
brought to
plantations that are
far from their
hometown.

ACCORDING TO THE MANILA TIMES 2015

 Trucks would pick
them up and bring
them to ‘camps’
that are located in
nearby provinces
to stay and work
there from two
weeks to one
month without
their parents.
They stay and
sleep in makeshift
tents within the
plantation,” the
EU report said. ACCORDING TO THE MANILA TIMES 2015
 The root of child labor as we all know is
poverty and the lack of decent work for
parents of the child workers. They deny their
children the chance to attend school and learn
the skills they need to become productive
adults and force their kids to work to earn
income for their families.