Child Labor With Cdl Profile

CHILD LABOR “They are everywhere but invisible, toiling as domestic servants in homes, laboring behind the walls of workshops/factories, hidden from view in sugarcane plantations, unsafe in the production of pyrotechnics, collecting garbage from households, risking their lives in the streets selling newspapers and cigarettes, hopping from one jeepney to another to wipe our shoes and beg for alms afterwards, experiencing malnutrition, can be seen asleep in the coldness of the earth provided with carton papers as their beds, paying their ancestors’ debts in some big haciendas, working for their families in the rice farm, diving for pearls in the ocean/seas of the archipelago, involved in mining and quarrying in some places, demoralized and prostituted at young age… “ They aren’t worthy of these misfortunes. It refers to the illegal employment of children below 18 years of age in hazardous occupations. Underage children are being forced to manual labor to help their families mainly due to poverty. Labor has many ill effects in children who are supposed to be in the environment of a classroom rather than roaming the streets to earn money. Although most do get the privilege of education, most of them end up being dropouts and repeaters because they are not able to focus on their studies. Because of child labor, children suffer from malnutrition, hampered growth, and improper biological development. The use of child labor was not regarded a social problem until the introduction of the factory system. Child Labor is most concentrated in Asia and Africa, which together account for more than 90% of total children employment. Though there are more child workers in Asia than anywhere else, a higher percentage of African children participate in the labor force. Asia is led by India, which has 44 million child laborers, diving it the largest child workers are between the ages of 10 – 14 yrs. old (1991). Nigeria has 12 million child workers. Child labor is also common in South America. For example, there are 7 million children working in Brazil (ILO 1992). Though restrictions on child labor exist in most nations, many children do work. This vulnerable state leaves them prone to exploitation. The International Labour Office reports that children work the longest hours and are the worst paid of all the laborers (Bequele and Boyden 1988). They endure work conditions, which include health hazards and potential abuse. Employers capitalize on the docility of the children recognizing that these laborers cannot legally form unions to change their conditions. Such manipulation stifles the development of youth. Their working conditions do not provide the stimulation for physical and mental development. Finally, these children are deprived of the simple joys of childhood, relegated instead to a life of drudgery. However, there are problems with the obvious solution of abolishing child labor. First, there is no international agreement defining child labor. Countries not only have different minimum age work restrictions, but also have varying regulations based on the type of labor. This makes the

limits of child labor very ambiguous. Most would agree that a six year old is too young to work, but whether the same can be said about a twelve year old is debatable. Problems with the intuitive solution of immediately abolishing child labor to prevent such abuse are first, there is no international agreement defining labor, making it hard to isolate cases of abuse, let alone abolish them. Second, many children may have to work in order to attend school so abolishing child labor may only hinder their education. Any plans of abolishment depend on schooling. Also, there must be an economic change in the condition of a struggling family to free a child from the responsibility of working. Until there is global agreement, which can isolate cases of child labor, it will be very hard to abolish. There is also the view that work can help a child in terms of socialization, in building self – esteem and for training (Collins 1983). The problem is, then, not child labor itself but the conditions under which it operates (Boyden 1991). CHILD WORK VERSUS CHILD LABOR Child work refers to the children’s participation in economic activity – that does not negatively affect their health and development or interferes with education, can be positive. Work that does not interfere with education (light work) is permitted from the age of 12 years under the International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention 138. Child labor is more narrowly defined and refers to children working in contravention of the above standards. This means all children below 12 years old of age working in any economic activities, those aged 12 to 14 years engaged in harmful work, and all children engaged in the worst forms of child labor. Worst forms of child labor involves children being enslaved, forcibly recruited, trafficked, forced into illegal activities and exposed to hazardous work. CHILD LABOR IN THE PHILIPPINE SETTING The Philippines is literally a young nation with a high percentage of young people in its overall population. And the child labor problem in the Philippines is a serious one. According to the National Statistics Office survey, there are about 4 million working children in the country today. Of the 4 million, 2.4 million are engaged in hazardous work, which means that they are exposed to chemical, physical and biological hazards. These are the children involved in the worst forms of child labor such as prostitution, domestic work, mining and quarrying, commercial agriculture, deep – sea fishing and pyrotechnics production. The following are the more salient figures in the survey:

•Four out of 25 million children, ages 5 – 17, are working. This means that one out of 6 works •Mostly male, elementary grader (between 10 – 17 years old), usually rural – based •Region IV has the highest incidence of child labor (12.5%); next is region VI (11.8%); and Region XI (10.2%) •Majority work as unskilled, unpaid, engaged in agriculture, on seasonal basis laborers •One of four children work during night time •60% of working children, aged 5 – 17 years old are exposed to hazardous environment. •40% are elementary graduates; 32% reached high school; 3% never attended school •59% are unpaid, work in household – operated farm or business •53% in agriculture / forestry / hunting Child labor is the participation of children in the creation of products like sugarcane, pineapple, sardines or firecrackers or provision of services like domestic help and sexual labor. They are everywhere but invisible, toiling as domestic servants in homes, laboring behind the walls of workshops/factories, hidden from view in sugarcane plantations, unsafe in the production of pyrotechnics, collecting garbage from households, risking their lives in the streets selling newspapers and cigarettes, hopping from one jeepney to another to wipe our shoes and beg for alms afterwards, experiencing malnutrition, can be seen asleep in the coldness of the earth provided with carton papers as their beds, paying their ancestors’ debts in some big haciendas, working for their families in the rice farm, diving for pearls in the ocean/seas of the archipelago, involved in mining and quarrying in some places, demoralized and prostituted at young age… They aren’t worthy of these misfortunes. In Metro Manila and neighboring towns, most child laborers are found in factories, livestock industries like poultry farms and piggery. They often come from the provinces. In many cases, they live like convicts, incarcerated and without the freedom of movement. Young workers in the farm are made to sleep inside pigpen or poultry house together with the animals. In the Visayas and Mindanao, child labor is rampant in sugarcane, pineapple, rubber, and asparagus plantations. A significant number of child laborers can be found in sugar plantations in Tarlac. These children are directly exposed to the elements like the sun and rains, their growth is stunted because of the heavy load they carry on their shoulders. Malnutrition is common among child laborers.

Child labor, especially the hazardous kind is a scourge. It must be eliminated at all cost, and the children must be saved from misery. BASELINE RESEARCH One year ago Lingap Pangkabataan Inc. started its CDL Program. There are now 101 Child Domestic Laborers being served and catered by this program. The CDL program is assisted by US Department of Labor through the Winrock International’s Community-Based Innovations to Reduce Child Labor through Education (CIRCLE) initiative.

Socio-Demographic Profile SEX Almost three-fourths of the Child domestic Laborers involved in the program are females (75) while the rest (26) are males (see Table 1). Table 1. Sex Category Male Female TOTAL

f 26 75 101

% 25.7 74.3 100.0

This could be due to the nature of the work that these children provide for their employees, which are mostly household chores. Being a domestic worker, they do all household chores, including cooking and washing clothes for males. A male child recounted, “Kasi, since maraming mga pinsan ko kasi ilan po ba kami dun, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7... 13 po kami lahat sa bahay eh! Thirteen...maglalaba po ako ng mga damit kahit konti lang.” --- Gerson, 17

However, some of the male participants do other work from females aside from household chores. A child said that he was already used to working even when he was still in the province. He narrated, “Kasi po nagtrabaho din po ako sa probinsiya namin e. Grade 5 po ako nung nagbubuhat po kami ng mga coco lumber. Ewan ko kung bakit ako pumayat. Malaki dati katawan ko eh. Nagbubuhat po kami ng coco lumber tapos nagbabantay po ako ng... ano po dun pa sa may coco lumber shop pa yung mga buko-buko. Tapos taga-tulak po para mahiwa. Yun, yun pa po yung ginagawa ko. Naglalaba po ako ng damit ng mga kapatid ko kasi maliliit pa po mga kapatid ko eh.” --- Gerson, 17

AGE As of May 2006, the ages of the child domestic laborers in the program range from 13 to 17 years old. There were 69 respondents who are fifteen years old and above – seventeen years old (26 respondents), sixteen years old (22 respondents) and fifteen years old (21 respondents). On the other hand, there were 32 respondents who are thirteen and fourteen years old – 18 and 14 respondents – respectively (see Table 2).

Table 2. Age Category Thirteen Fourteen Fifteen Sixteen Seventeen TOTAL

f 18 14 21 22 26 101

% 17.8 13.9 20.8 21.8 25.7

100.0

PLACE of ORIGIN Most of the respondents are originally from Luzon (64%), namely Ilocos Region (4%), Southern Tagalog (20%), Central Luzon (10%) and

Bicol Region (11%). At the same time, only a small percentage come from the Visayas (13%), namely Region 6 (5%), Region 7 (2%) and Region 8 (5%). Only a handful of respondents are from Mindanao (see Table 3).

Table 3. Region of Origin Category f Region 1 4 Region 2 7 Region 3 9 Region 4 20 Region 5 11 Region 6 5 Region 7 2 Region 8 6 Region 9 1 Region 10 2 Region 11 1 Region 12 1 Region 13 1 CAR 1 NCR 13 ARMM 1 Not Stated 16 TOTAL 101

% 4.0 6.9 8.9 19.8 10.9 5.0 2.0 5.9 1.0 2.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 12.9 1.0 15.8 100.0

Most of the children left their families in their own provinces. Some of the children attested that it was their parents who sent them in the city to work, for them to continue their studies. Family Background

STATUS of PARENTS’ MARRIAGE Although majority of the children involved in the program (55%) have intact parents, there are also 16% of them whose parents were already separated. It can be seen that a fourth of the children have either deceased parents – father (12%), mother (2%) – or both (6%).

Other cases include being abandoned by parents or not knowing his/her parents at all (see Table 4). Table 4. Status of Family Marriage f % beaten by adoptive parents both parents deceased father deceased mother deceased father abandoned father unknown father unknown, mother deceased Intact Separated separated, mother remarried TOTAL

1

1.5

4

6.2

8 1 1 2

12.3 1.5 1.5 3.1

1

1.5

34 10

52.3 15.4

1

1.5

101

100.0

On the other hand, one of the strong reasons why CDLs accept domestic jobs is because one of their parents died. This implied that some of the cases of CDLs handled by Lingap were only due to the fact that even at an early age, a child had to fill up some of the working obligations of the deceased parent to his/her family. A female child when asked how long had she been helping her mother in her laundry work said, “Am, simula po nung namatay ang tatay ko… …Nung August 2005 po.” --- Julie, 13 Again, another reason was when parents separate. This was what happened to one of the children under the program which she had to work separately, since her mother remarried and already had another family, after being separated with his father.

NUMBER of SIBLINGS Most of the respondents’ (77) numbers of siblings range from two to six, in which this is almost equally divided among these numbers. There were 17 who had two siblings, 16 who had five siblings in their families. At the same time, there were equal number of children who had three and four siblings (15 responses each) (see Table 5). Table 5. Number of Siblings f % None 6 5.9 One 5 5.0 Two 17 16.8 Three 15 14.9 Four 15 14.9 Five 16 15.8 Six 14 13.9 Seven 7 6.9 Eight 5 5.0 Nine 1 1.0 101 TOTAL

It is true that children who had many siblings go to this job more often than not since, aside from their parents, they also had to help in the family’s finances. A discussant said, “Uhmm, kasi po para matulungan ko din po yung mother ko. Kasi siya lang po yung nagtatrabaho sa amin. Tapos, marami po kaming magkapatid dito. Tapos, kami lang yung dalawang nagtutulungan para may trabaho.” --- Joanna, 16

Due to the cost of living these days, there were instances wherein they had to take the burden of providing help for the family through working to other people. There were also some children who,

due to the fact that some of their siblings were already working, they don’t have a choice but to also do the same. A female child said, “Si Kuya parang ano po siya, parang sa construction. Nag-aayos ng mga...ano ba yun.. yung mga escalator ganun po. Tapos yung isa ko pong kapatid… katulong din po siya sa ibang ano. Tapos si Ate ko... Jonalyn, may trabaho po siyang iba kasi may anak na siya. Binubuhay po niya.” --Mish

Domestic Labor RELATIONSHIP to EMPLOYER Of the 101 total respondents, almost half of them stated that their employers were not closely related to them, while 39 said that they are working and living with their relatives (see Table 6) Table 6. Children’s Relationship to Employer Relationship to Employer Related Non-related Not Stated Total

f

%

39 50 12 101

38.6 49.5 11.9 100. 0

Some of the participants who are living with their relatives said they are sent to Manila by their own parents and left them to close friends/relatives like tito, tita or lola. Others who worked for people they are not related with said they were also sent to work for them, since these people would help them get through their studies. A child also said,

“Pinakilala sa akin ng tatay ko. Tapos sabi po sa akin dadalhin daw po ako sa Maynila. Tapos po pumunta po kami ng...Basta po nag-iikot-ikot muna kami dito, nagpunta ng Blumentritt para magtinda lang po kami ng orchids, pagdating po dun sa Cavite, sa Bacoor po...Pinag-alaga niya po ako ng anak niya, yung disable. Ako po nag-alaga nun. Bago po ako dinala ni Ate Marlyn dun sa Tita ko.” --- Gerson, 17

WORK HAZARDS Deprivation of sleep was the most common hazard that the child domestic laborers reported. Almost one out of four of the children in the program experience excessive hours of work (24%). The children have to wake up early to start their chores. A total of eight respondents reported that they are prohibited to attend school by their employer. Less than 1/3 of the children have reported “no” work hazards (see Table 7). Table 7. Work Hazards Category Excessive hours of work Prohibition to attend to

F 30 8

MR* % 24.0 6.4

school Deprived of sleep Hazardous jobs Others None Not Stated

34 2 8 38 5

27.2 1.6 6.4 30.4 4.0

*n=125

The CDLs usually do a lot of household chores, whether they are related or not with the persons they are staying with. One discussant enumerated the things she usually do everyday, “Naglilinis ng bahay, nagwawalis, nag-aayos ng mga gamitgamit. Ano, pinupunasan yung mga displays. Eto rin naglalaba kapag weekends… … “Tapos naghuhugas ng plato, araw,

tanghali, tsaka gabi… “

--- Mish, 14

Furthermore, another participant recounted his daily tasks in the house with the exact time when he does everything. According to him, he usually foregoes his personal needs and prioritizes the household chores everyday. “Pag 5...5:30 kasi ako gumigising ng umaga. Tapos pag 5:30, di muna ako maghihilamos, di muna ako magsisipilyo, liligpitin ko muna yung mga pinaghigaan ko. . Tapos, bago ako magsipilyo tsaka maglinis ng katawan, pinupunasan ko muna ‘tong ano namin.” --- Gerson, 17 Most of the time though, even at weekends, some of the CDLs still had to work instead of rest. One FGD participant said, “Tapos po, pagka-yung Sabado, naglalaba ako ng mga ano nila. Tapos naglilinis din ng mga bakuran nila tapos ano, naglilinis ng bahay. Tapos pag Linggo naman po, nagpaplantsa naman ako. Yun lang po.” --- Joanna, 16

Such schedule made them literally busy and deprived of rest and sleep. Some of them had to wake up early everyday and go to bed late at night only after they’ve finished their household duties. Only this time can they finally rest and do their assignments in school. “Tapos po 8 magpapahinga na po ako nun, hinihintay ko na ang alas-dose, alas-dose na po kasi ako natutulog hinihintay ko na lang po kung may iuutos pa tapos bago po ako matulog.” --- Gerson, 17

FREE TIME The Child Domestic Laborers usually had their rest and recreation after having finished all their tasks for the day. However, some of them

only have their day-offs from work once or twice in one month. Some of the participants in the FGD said that, “Bale yung pinaka-free time ko gabi na po yun, pag nanonood ng TV...yun lang. Tapos pag tinatamad naman po ako ng TV, nagbabasa na lang po ako o kaya nakikipagkwentuhan ako sa kaibigan ko.” --- Karen, 16 “Tapos, maghihilamos na po ako. 7:30 po pupunta na po ako sa manukan, mapapakain na po kami ng manok, magpapaligo tapos pagtapos po niyan, 9 na po ako lalabas...magbabasketball na po ako, maglalaro na po. Tapos pagdating po ng 10, manonood na po ako ng TV.” --- Denver, 15 “Mga bandang, pag natapos ko na po lahat ng gawain sa bahay, pwede na po akong maglaro. Tapos yun, pupunta sa mga kaibigan pag bandang hapon na po, tapos yun. Yun lang po gawain ko.” --- Art, 16

SALARY in a MONTH Out of the whole CDL respondents, almost a third of them stated that they earn from P501 to 1000 pesos in a month. At the same time, there were 18 respondents who said they are getting below 500 pesos, while 14 said they are getting 1001 to 1500 pesos every month of work. It is notable that only one child receives a salary of 3,000 pesos. The average salary of the Child Domestic Laborers is from 501 to 1000 pesos (see Table 8). Table 8. Income CDL Income in Pesos 500 and Below 501 – 1000 1001 – 1500 1501 – 2000 2001 – 2005

f 18 32 14 6 5

% 17.8 31.7 13.9 5.9 5.0

2501 – 3000 Not Stated TOTAL

1 25 101

1.0 24.8 100.0

Among the respondents who stated their salaries, 16 of the respondents who earn between the average salary which is from 501 to 1000 pesos, said they are related to their employees as opposed to 13 who stated they are not related to their employees. Cross tabulating children’s relationship with their employer by their salaries in a month, it is evident that the number of children decreases as the salaries increase, whether they related or not to their employers. It can be also noted that almost one fourth of the respondents did not state their salaries, which is considerably a large percentage already (see Table 9).

Table 9. Salary Month by Relationship to Employer Relationship to Employer NonRelated related f % f %

Stated F %

8

7.9

9

8.9

1

1.0

16

15.8

13

12.8

3

3.0

1001 – 1500

3

3.0

9

8.9

2

2.0

1501 – 2000

-

-

5

5.0

1

1.0

2001 – 2005

1

1.0

3

3.0

1

1.0

2501 – 3000

-

-

1

1.0

-

-

11

10.9

10

9.9

4

4.0

Salary in Pesos

500 and Below 501 – 1000

Not Stated

Not

TOTAL

39

38.6

50

49.5

12

12

This assumption can be further strengthened, as some of those who are living with their own relatives do not give them fixed monthly salaries, since their food for everyday and their allowance for school. Some of the children when asked how much they get from working in their relatives’ house said, “Sa Tita ko po? Wala pong binibigay sa akin.” --- Gerson, 17 “Wala po... Basta wala po. Basta, parang nakikitira po ako sa kanila tapos kapag may school, pag may ano na po... sila po yung bahala.” --- Mish, 14 “Yung ganun po. Bale dito, bago ako nagtrabaho sa bahay …basta nagtatrabaho po ako sa bahay namin pero hindi naman po sinuswelduhan. Bale, nakikitira lang po, ganun po.”

--- Art, 16

Educational Background SCHOOL All the children involved in the program attend schools which are located within Quezon City. Among the children, one out of four is enrolled in Krus na Ligas High School. Other children attend school at Camp Gerneral Emilio Aguinald High School (19), Flora Ylagan High School (20), and Carlos P. Garcia High School (13). A small number of children go to school at Juan Sumulong High School (2) and Ramon Magsaysay High School (3) (see Table 10.)

Table 10. School Category Juan Sumulong Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo Carlos P. Garcia Ramon Magsaysay Lagro High School Krus na Ligas Flora Ylagan Others No answer TOTAL

f 2

% 2.0

19

18.8

13 3 8 26 20 8 2 101

12.9 3.0 7.9 25.7 19.8 7.9 2.0 100.0

YEAR LEVEL Of the 101 child domestic laborers, 29 of them have reached 1st year high school. An equal number of children have reached 2nd or 3rd year high school. It must be noted that some of the children have stopped formal education at one point. Only 7% of the children have only graduated from elementary (see Table 11).

Table 11. Year level Category Elementary graduate 1st year Highschool 2nd year Highschool 3rd year Highschool 4th year Highschool Not Stated

f

%

7

6.9

29

28.7

26

25.7

26

25.7

9

8.9

4

4.0

TOTAL

101

100.0

Although, a handful of CDLs stopped schooling at one point, their studies seemed to be one of the reasons why they had to enter and continue to stay in such jobs. Education was, according to them very important since it is one of the ways they can help their own families get up from poverty. One determined student said, “Sa magkakapatid po ako lang po yung nag-aaral. Bale yung ate ko po, 2nd year lang natapos. Mga kapatid ko hindi nag-aaral eh… …Magcocollege po ako. Gusto ko po makabuo, 4 year-course. Para po makatulong sa family ko. Para po sa aming magkakapatid man lang, ako po yung makakapagtapos.” --- Gerson, 17

TALENTS and SKILLS

One important aspect that CDL Program enhances aside from providing financial help as support for the Child Domestic Laborers is the talents and skills of these young children. Many of them are active in Lingap and other community activities, in which they can show some their talents and skills in music, sports and academics. Lingap conducts Children Forum every third week of the month, wherein they can actually plan their activities for the whole year. Furthermore, they are assisted in enhancing their talents and skills through workshops in song, dance, theater and instrument playing together with their fellow CDLs. At the same time, children are also given the opportunity to join contests on drawing, poster-making, poem-writing are also provided by Lingap.

Under the same program, children themselves encourage each other to participate in different activities to be able to do other things aside from their household work. Through the year also, tutorials on the subjects Math, Science and English – in which most of the children admitted to have difficulty in such areas. On the other hand, as of February 2005, there were already 73 CDLs provided with school needs, specifically materials for their school projects, field trip fees and uniforms. The project also did some minor help to the families of those who accidentally burned by fire. Children under the program also get to learn lessons about God which made them enjoy and thankful about Lingap. “Siyempre po masaya.. Unang-una, marami pong bagong kaibigan. Tapos ano po... sa Lingap po kasi sila po yung sumusuporta po sa pag-aaral namin, ganun po. Tsaka sila po yung tumutulong po para mapalapit sa Diyos, kaya po masaya po. “ --- Art, 16

All these endeavors and activities helped the CDLs to be able to socialize with other people, meet some friends and learn other things outside their boxes. The organization, together with the Child Domestic Laborers hope that such efforts to improve their lives would continue for them to get out of domestic job and achieve their future dreams and ambitions. FACTORS CAUSING THE PROBLEM OF CHILD LABOR Poverty is the primary cause of child labor in the developing countries like the Philippines. Children work to ensure the survival of their family and themselves. Though children are not well paid, they still serve as major contributors to family income in the developing countries. Children are often prompted to work by their parents. According to one study, parents represent 62% of the source of induction into employment. Children make their own decisions to work only 8% of the time (Syed et. al. 1991). In fact, a possible reason

parents in developing countries have children is because they can be profitable of their children. Children seem to be much less of an economic burden in developing versus developed countries. Children in developing countries also contribute more time to households than they deplete as compared to their counterparts in developed countries (Lindert 1976). Therefore, parents in developing countries make use of children’s ability to work. Evidence suggests that parents have children based on a cost – benefit perspective. Children in developing countries tend to be of economic value and, as a result, become a desirable asset for struggling parents. This desire also leads to the increase of the population that is also one of the factors causing child labor. Schooling problems also contribute to child labor. Many times children seek employment because there is no access to schools possibly because of the distance or worse yet there are no schools at all. When there is access, the low quality of the education often makes attendance a waste of time for the students. Schools in many developing areas suffer from problems such as overcrowding, lack of resources, inadequate sanitation and pathetic teachers. As a result, parents may find no use of sending their children to school when they could be home learning a skill, farming for example and supplementing the family income. Because parents have so much control over their children, their perception of the value of school is a main determinant of child attendance. Parents who are educated understand for themselves the importance of schooling from personal experience. School attendance by a child is also highly correlated with family income. Therefore, when children drop out of school, it is not necessarily because of irresponsible parenting; it may be due to the family’s financial situation. When these children leave school, they become potential workers. Traditional factors are also important. The established female role in certain countries dictates that women will not fit into traditional roles if they become educated. Such cultural practices restrict the education of females and promote child employment. The acceptance of social class participation perpetuates child labor as well. Often parents assign different roles into their children. This has been called child specialization, and may increase the number of working children. This phenomenon involves certain siblings going to school while the others work. Rapid rural – to – urban migration is the cause for the increasing rate of child labor in the urban areas of the developing countries. Families leave the severity of agricultural working conditions for cities in order to search for economic opportunities that often do not exist. Unchecked growth of population – rapid growth of population adds up to the enormous number of working children here in the Philippines. Parents keep on having children who would then be working for the family just to have some food on there table during meals and feed their empty stomachs. Another problem with the complete abolition of child labor is that education and employment for children are not mutually exclusive. Many children work and go to

school. In fact, many children have to work to go to school; otherwise, they could not afford the tuition and other fees associated with attendance. Family structure research shows that 75% of the working children are products of broken families. There are no parents to take care of them, feed them, provide them with their first education and their needs so they won’t need to roam around the streets and do pathetic works to earn money.

COMMUNICATION PROBLEMS Lack of Awareness – the government has numerous projects on child labor, but the communities aren’t aware of these or even the approach of the advocates is not pleasing for the audience. Lack of Knowledge – people may then have access to the campaign in their community, but it is also possible that these people are illiterate or couldn’t understand the materials, or it also depend on what kind of information and materials the advocates will feed the audience. Lack of Acceptance – the advocates inform the parents about the issue on child labor, if they would not accept it because of their orientation that the younger their children work the better because their children are being trained at an early age. This happens both in urban and rural areas. Lack of Determination – the audience accepts the fact that is not right for their children to work. They also knew that their children could be abused by overworking. They cannot prevent this because of their status in life. They thought that if all of them will work it would change their dilemma. Lack of Access –it pertains to a certain distance of a place. Even though we have knowledgeable IECs but if the place is not accessible for the advocates its useless, because we must consider the place of our target audience. Lack of Participation – people may find it less interesting to attend seminars with regards to the issue, the employers would probably be in denial when accused violating, some of the parents who are supposedly the ones to protect their children turned out to be the ones to push their kids into work, then, even the children involved in the issue are not participating because of they fear of losing their jobs.

LAWS ABOUT SPECIAL PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AGAINST CHILD ABUSE, EXPLOITATION AND DISCRIMINATION ACT Children shall not be the object of attack and shall be entitled to special respect. They shall be protected from any form of threat, assault, torture or other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment. Shall recognize the vital role of the children in nation building and shall promote and promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual and social wellbeing. Article VIII Section 12 The employer shall consider the following before having a child laborer in their welfare.  A work permit from the Department of Labor and Employment.  Ensure protection, health, safety, and morals of the child.  Institute measures to prevent exploitation or discrimination taking into account the system and level of remuneration and the duration and arrangement of working time.  Formulate and implement a continuous program for training and skill acquisition of the child. R.A. #7610 Develop to provide special protection on children from all forms of abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation and discrimination and other prejudicial to their development. The State shall intervene on behalf of the child when the parent, guardian, teacher or person having cared and custody of. It is to protect and rehabilitate children gravely threatened or enlargened by circumstances which affect or will affect their survival and normal development and over which they have no control. R.A. #9231 Declared to provide special protection on children from all forms of abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation and discrimination and other prejudicial to their environment including child labor and its worst forms; provide sanctions for their commission and carry out a program for prevention and deterrence of and crisis intervention in situation of child abuse, exploitation and discrimination. Exemption of employment for children below 15yrs. old • Child works directly under the sole responsibility of their parents

•

Parents permit their children to work in entertainment or information through cinema, television, radio, magazines, etc. Hours of work of a working child: • •

15 years of age - maximum of 20 hours/wk 15 years but below 18 years – maximum of 40 hours/wk

Determination: Inculcate to the minds of almost 25% of the respective audience the conditions of those involving in child labor and the circumstances they are in after 6 months. PRIMARY AUDIENCE Child laborers: we have to inform them that even if they need to work for their family’s survival and their own, there’s still a conflict with it because under 15 years old are not allowed to work provided that the parents allow them. Employers: even if they have the good intentions for the welfare of child, still it is against the law and there are penalties for it. Also it aims to tolerate the child to involve in such act. Parents: they should be the first to stop their child to work but with country like ours, most likely, the parents become dependent to the child hoping that they will alleviate them from poverty. And also the culture of the Philippines accepts this kind of situation because parents think that their child is an investment and by this, the child carry the burden of responsibilities. TERTIARY AUDIENCE The government shall recognize the vital role of the youth in nation building and shall promote and protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual and social wellbeing by enhancing their over all development, taking into account sectoral needs and conditions in the development of educational, cultural, recreational policies and programs addressed to them