By Liza Agoot with reports from Janice Dioas, OJT/Philippine News Agency
BAGUIO CITY — The Department of Labor and Employment in the Cordillera Administrative Region (DOLE-CAR) is working to stop children from being exploited into working at an early age, through the “Project Angel Tree”.
DOLE-CAR Regional Director Exequiel Ronie Guzman on Monday said through the project, parents are aided to provide for their family’s needs so that the children would not have to skip school and work.
Through the project, a component of DOLE’s Child Labor Prevention and Elimination program that started in 2001, an array of social services and supplies, work and training opportunities are made available to the parents of child laborers.
“We offer the parents livelihood and some other alternative ways for them to be able to provide the needs of the family because the reason of child labor is the lack of income so that the children can stop working and pursue their studies,” he said.
Children from low-income families are sometimes forced to work and help earn for their families.
Guzman said that there were no documented child laborers in the Cordillera region. However, the children at risk of labor were mostly found working in the farms, services and the manufacturing sector where their families are engaged in.
“What we documented were children at risk who can be a potential victim of child labor,” Guzman said.
Patrick Rillorta, DOLE-CAR information officer said that based on a 2011 survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), there were 2.097 million child laborers and children at risk.
DOLE targets to eliminate at least 630,000 by the end of 2022.
He said in the Cordillera, the survey showed that there are 41,940 children at risk of labor, which by 2022 is hoped to be eliminated in full or least cut by one fourth.
In 2018, out of the 2,300 target, the Philippine Program Against Child Labor (PPACL) profiled some 2,085 children who were already receiving assistance from DOLE and Project Angel Tree.
The children are located in the different provinces of the Cordillera — Abra, 341; Apayao, 312; Baguio, 341; Benguet, 341; Ifugao, 126; Kalinga, 312 and Mountain Province, 312.
Based on data provided, there were 186 children at risk who were referred for different services, 526 provided with educational assistance while there are 128 children and parents provided with livelihood assistance.
Project Angel Tree is a collaboration of DOLE with other government agencies and the private sector.
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