by Lovely A. Carillo
Ten-year old Andoy (not his real name) was barely five years old when he started accompanying his father in his “bote-bakal” business. He remembers how elated he was riding his father’s wooden kariton cart) alongside bottles of various sizes, plastic wares and other junk they were able to get their hands on from their neighborhood in Relocation, Mintal.
Andoy thought it was just child’s play, until it became the center of his child life. Today, his father still calls out “bote-bakal” not only in Relocation but also in other subdivisions like Green Meadows in Tugbok district and Wellspring in Catalunan Pequeno.
However, Andoy no longer joins his father. After all, he has learned the trade and now has his own kariton, not a wooden one, but an improved version made of galvanized iron. But this time, he no longer scouts for bote-bakal alone, but buys them, in addition to old electric fans and other appliances junked by his middle class and sometimes, wealthy clients.
Andoy said he does not need capital because he is among the lucky few given a small capital by the junk shop where he delivers his goods. “Sa buntag hatagan na ko ug kwarta sa tag-iya para sigurado na sa iyaha nako ibaligya ang makuha nako nga mga junk (The junk shop owner readily gives me money in the morning for the purchase of junk to make sure that I sell all the junk I can get only to him),” he added.
Andoy is proof of the alarming rise in the number of child labor not only in the Davao region but in the whole country as well. Based on the 2000 Census, there are already up to four million Filipino child laborers.
The ABK2 Project of World Vision Development Foundation has targeted up to 4,000 children in the Davao region for their project. These are the children included in their priority sector, but there could be more in various sectors that have not been monitored by the implementing agencies.
“Sixty percent of these children are already engaged in child labor while forty percent are at risk,” ABK2 provincial education officer Patrick Henry Asinero said.
ABK2, which is a special project for combating child labor in the Philippines through education, is a four-year project which was implemented from September 2007 to September 2011. It is funded by the United States through World Vision.
Asiñero said the program seeks to contribute to the sustainable reduction of exploitive child labor in the Philippines by making educational services accessible and by increasing awareness on the risks and losses of human potential as a result of WFCL or worst forms of child labor.
The six priority sectors of the ABK2 include children in deep-sea fishing, children in commercial sexual exploitation, children in domestic work, children in pyrotechnics, children in mining and quarrying and children in sugarcane plantations.
He said they are also targeting children who are in engaged in WFCL specifically in the areas of scavenging and commercial agriculture particularly in plantations of copra, rubber, mango, banana and corn.
The ABK2 project is conducted in eleven cities and provinces, including Davao City and Davao del Sur.
A total of 793 children who are engaged in the worst forms of child labor have been identified in the Toril and Bunawan areas of the city. These children, who were found engaged in scavenging and quarrying, were among the recipients of school supplies distributed by the program implementing agencies last June.
“Children 15 years old and below are not legally allowed to work for more than four hours everyday, or more than five days a week,” Department of Labor and Employment 11 child labor focal person Marlito Ayala said.
The law does not also allow those who are 17 below, but not below 15 years old, to work for more than eight hours a day or more than 40 hours a week, he said. However, he said, a lot of children within thee ages are already working in mining, quarrying and in agriculture.
World Vision is already implementing some intervention procedures for the 797 child laborers found engaged in mining in Pantukan, Compostela Valley.
The Educational Research and Development Assistance Foundation, Inc. (ERDA) is implementing the program for 511 child laborers found engaged in agriculture in the different mango plantations in Magsaysay and Matanao, Davao del Sur.
The Christian Children’s Fund is conducting the program among the 1,559 identified child workers in Compostela Valley, Davao City, Digos City and Hagonoy, Davao del Sur.
There are sanctions for hiring children as child laborers, he said. Ayala, however, added that Dole’s hands are tied since they cannot do anything unless they receive a formal complaint about these cases.
Davao City may have been the runaway choice during the first ever selection of the Most Child-Friendly City in the Philippines in 1999 but it has not been exempted from the street children and child labor phenomenon.
EMAR Learning Center founder Ma. Lita Montalban did not even have to leave the vicinity of her school to find this out personally. She said the junction between Matina and Aplaya is a favorite hangout for children who live on the streets.
One day, she saw several children between the ages of 8 to 10 begging for food and money and asked them if they wanted to go to school. Montalban is a staunch anti-child labor advocate and sponsors the scholarships of hundreds of street children, some of whom are now in college.
“Ngano mag eskwela pa man mi, dili mi oy (why should we go to school—we do not want that!),” was the shocking answer Montalban gets from the youngsters.
“The problem really is how to entice them to go back to school,” she said. Montalban said it is becoming a vicious cycle because the new law makes it illegal for the police to arrest these children, and so the police cannot do anything but return the children to their parents who then encourage these children to go into child labor.
Montalban was referring to Republic Act No. 9344, An Act Establishing a Comprehensive Juvenile Justice and Welfare System. It may be recalled that former mayor, now vice mayor, Rodrigo Duterte has been very vocal about his annoyance with the law as it only encourages juvenile delinquency.
“It is ABK2’s aim to bring these child laborers as well as those at risk back to school,” Asinero said. They started the campaign by providing child labor, responsible parenthood and livelihood opportunities to 108 parents of children engaged in WFCL (and those at risk) and enrolled in Bunawan’s F. Calderon Elementary School before classes started last June
The school has been one of the recipients of ABK2’s direct educational assistance since 2008. The school is adjacent to a quarry and those who monitor child workers have discovered that some of the students ages 5 to 17 years old were engaged in WFCL so they could help their parents with their daily subsistence.
Asinero said up to 200 school children at F. Calderon are recipients of ABK2’s educational assistance. ABK2 provides school supplies to the children directly, or to the school, in exchange for miscellaneous or school fees required of the recipients.
“This is one way of enticing both parents and children to go back to school and stay there,” he said.
Even with the improvement in Davao region’s economy, the fact that many of its inhabitants are still experiencing hard times means that a significant number of children will have no choice but engage in mining chores, quarrying, agricultural work, other menial labor to earn pittance that will at least ensure they can buy pandesal or a sachet of udong to keep body and soul together—somehow.
