US embassy cable - 05MANILA3830

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 MANILA 003830 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DRL/IL FOR LAUREN HOLT 
DOL/ILAB FOR TINA MCCARTER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, ECON, ELAB, EAID, RP, ILO 
SUBJECT: PHILIPPINES: CHILD LABOR UPDATE 2005 
 
REF: A. STATE 143552 
     B. MANILA 971 
     C. 04 MANILA 04072 
 
1. (U) Summary and Introduction: This message provides input 
requested for the Secretary of Labor's annual report to 
Congress on the implementation of commitments to eliminate 
the Worst Forms of Child Labor (ref A).  It updates 
information provided by Post in 2004 (per ref C) regarding 
child labor laws and regulations in the Philippines, law 
enforcement capabilities, social programs aimed at 
prevention, statistics on child labor and child education, 
and government policies and programs to combat child labor. 
 
2. (U) The Philippine government is trying to combat child 
labor, but it remains a serious problem.  Republic Act 9231 
(RA 9231), signed by President Arroyo in 2003, has 
strengthened the existing anti-child labor code.  Criminal 
prosecutions and convictions, however, remain rare.  The ILO 
and NGOs such as World Vision have made progress in 
identifying children engaged in or at-risk for the worst 
forms of child labor and mainstreaming them into the 
educational process.  The ILO-managed Philippine Time-Bound 
Program (PTBP) funded by the U.S. Department of Labor has 
resulted in more than 6,000 children removed from child 
labor.  Prevention efforts are also in place. 
 
3. (U) Sources of information used during the preparation of 
this update cable included the Philippine Department of Labor 
and Employment (DOLE), the Bureau of Women and Young Workers 
in the DOLE, the International Labor Organization, and World 
Vision.  End Summary and Introduction. 
 
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Background 
---------- 
 
4. (U) Estimates of the incidence of child labor vary 
significantly.  The 2000/2001 National Survey on Children 
(NSC) estimated that as many as four million children aged 5 
to 17 years were economically active: 16.2 percent of the 
total population of children in that age group.  Of the four 
million child workers, an estimated 60 percent or 2.4 million 
were exposed to hazardous working environments.  However, the 
results of the Labor Force Survey (conducted and published by 
the National Statistics Office) for October 2004 revealed 
that about 2.12 million or 9.1 percent of the total 25.21 
million children 5 to 17 years old are engaged in economic 
activities.  The number decreased by 5.2 percent from last 
year's (October 2003) figure of 2.23 million. 
 
5. (U) The Philippine government spends approximately 3 
percent of its GDP on education.  Government support for the 
education of poor children is provided indirectly through the 
public school system rather than through targeted subsidies. 
During the 2002-2003 school year, approximately 19 million 
elementary and secondary school students were enrolled, a 1.9 
percent increase over the previous year's enrollment of 18.64 
million.  (Note: Statistics on enrollment for school years 
2003-2004 and 2004-2005 are not yet available. End Note.) 
 
6. (U) Republic Act 9231: President Arroyo signed Republic 
Act 9231 in 2003, codifying regulations set forth in the UN 
Convention of Rights of Children and ILO Convention 182 (ref 
B).  The new law, which gives more muscle to the existing 
anti-child labor code, has been implemented but has not yet 
resulted in any prosecutions or convictions (see Para 13). 
 
------------------------------ 
New and Continuing Initiatives 
------------------------------ 
 
7. (U) The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) funds several 
initiatives through the ILO and World Vision to combat child 
labor in the Philippines (ref B).  The key initiatives are: 
 
-- ILO-IPEC implementation of Philippine Time-Bound Program 
(PTBP): 
This program, started in 2002, supports the Government of 
Philippine's goal of reducing the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
(WFCL) by 75% by 2015.  The project is being implemented in 
six regions of the Philippines covering eight provinces.  The 
goals of this project are to rescue 44,500 children aged five 
to 17 years engaged in or at-risk for the worst forms of 
child labor by 2006 through counseling, education and 
reintegration with their families. 
 
-- Combating Child Soldiers: 
ILO-IPEC is implementing a program to reduce the incidence of 
child soldiers, targeting those in Mindanao.  ILO-IPEC 
estimates that at least 2,000 children or minors could be 
child soldiers in the Philippines.  By mid-2005, the project 
had demobilized 300 children from armed conflict and 
reintegrated them into mainstream society, and 120 of these 
minors were enrolled in elementary grades, high school and 
college, while 180 were given vocational skills training. 
 
-- The Training for Rural Economic Empowerment (TREE) Program: 
The TREE program provides skills training with the aim of 
creating economic opportunities in Mindanao. One of the 
target groups for this initiative is 14-18 year old youth. 
By August 2005, a total of 806 beneficiaries had completed 
community-based training in vocational skills such as 
welding, tailoring, food processing, pottery making and 
dressmaking. 
 
-- The ABK Education Initiative: 
Under this initiative, the education component of the PTBP, 
World Vision, along with a number of NGO partners, is 
providing transitional education or vocational education 
programs for working children as well as those identified to 
be "at-risk".  Since the project was implemented in 2003, 
24,000 children have been enrolled in formal education and 
about 200 children have been enrolled in non-formal education 
and vocational skills training. 
 
-- Increasing Public Awareness and Capacities of National and 
Local Alliances through Program and Policy Advocacies Towards 
Realization of Time Bound Education Agenda: 
ILO-IPEC launched this program in May 2005 as part of the 
regional project "APEC Awareness-Raising Campaign: 
Eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labor and Providing 
Educational Opportunities."  The project aims to engage key 
stakeholders through national alliances in the development of 
education materials, and conduct awareness raising activities 
as well as policy advocacy for education. 
 
8. (U) DOLE is also implementing a project, funded by the 
Geneva-based Elimination of Child Labor in Tobacco 
Foundation, to reduce the incidence of child labor in tobacco 
fields in the Ilocos region.  As of August 2005, the project 
has given two-year scholarship grants to 100 children as well 
as alternative livelihood assistance to their families. 
 
---------------------- 
PTBP Projects: Results 
---------------------- 
 
9. (U) The significant PTBP Project achievements through 
August 2005 are: 
 
-- Baseline surveys have been completed in the eight targeted 
provinces.  The listings have identified more than 38,000 
children (by name) working and at risk of working in the six 
worst forms of child labor.  The listings have now been 
forwarded to World Vision for use in the ABK/Educational 
Initiative project. 
 
-- According to the PTBP, 6,135 children have been withdrawn 
and prevented from engaging in the six priority WFCL sectors. 
  ILO-IPEC, through its partner organizations, has provided 
them with psychosocial counseling, temporary shelter (and 
eventual referral to the Department of Social Welfare and 
Development) and basic health services, repatriation 
assistance, vocational training, and help in preparing for 
schooling.  The parents of these children were also given 
support in livelihood activities to remove the compulsion to 
send them to work. 
 
-- An action program was launched in May 2004 in 
collaboration with the Visayan Forum Foundation (VFF) to 
target 3,000 children in the domestic labor pool and 
mainstream them into formal or non-formal education.  By July 
2005, the VFF had enrolled 1,623 child domestic laborers in 
the formal and non-formal education systems and provided 
non-education services, such as counseling, repatriation, 
legal and medical assistance to 1,019 children working or 
at-risk of working as domestic laborers. 
 
----------------- 
Government Action 
----------------- 
 
10. (U) DOLE participated in a number of programs and 
activities to mark the 2005 World Day Against Child Labor 
(WDACL) on 12 June, including: 
-- The launch in Cebu City of the one million signature 
campaign for &Batas Basambahay,8 proposed legislation that 
aims to institutionalize protections for domestic workers, 
both adult and child. 
-- A three-day radio program sponsored by the Archbishop 
Mabutas Media Center in Davao. 
 
11. (U) The National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) serves as 
the steering committee for the National Policy of Action on 
Child Labor (NPACL) framework.  The NCLC, in partnership with 
the ILO, held a "National Forum on Child Labor and Mining in 
the Philippines" to mark the 2005 WDACL. Relevant government 
agencies, workers organizations, employers groups and the 
social partners of NPACL participated in the forum, which 
presented the findings of a study on children in mining in 
Camarines Norte and the actions taken by NGOs and local 
government agencies to address the problem of child labor. 
DOLE, the Trade Union Congress, the Federation of Free 
Workers, and the Employers Confederation of the Philippines 
endorsed the ILO call to eliminate child labor in the mining 
and quarrying industries by 2015. 
 
12. (U) DOLE leads the interagency "Sagip Batang Manggagawa" 
(Rescue the Child Workers, or SBM) program, which rescued 
1,440 child labor victims from 2001-2003.  In 2004, SBM 
conducted 73 operations involving 195 minors.  From January 
to June 2005, SBM conducted 24 operations involving 71 
minors.  The rescued minors were handed to the Department of 
Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) for rehabilitation and 
reintegration. 
 
13. (U) Thus far in 2005, DOLE has ordered the closure of two 
establishments, allegedly engaged in offering minors for 
prostitution, for violating RA 9231 (see below for further 
information on the child sex trade).  However, the cases are 
still under preliminary investigation.  Prosecutions and 
convictions for child labor continue to be limited.  Since 
1995, only four people have been convicted of violating the 
child labor law. There are seven pending child labor cases in 
Metro Manila, but there have been no convictions in 2005. 
(Note: The Bureau of Women and Young Workers in DOLE admits 
that its available data may be incomplete due to a lack of 
statistics from the provinces. End Note.) 
 
----------------------------------- 
Child Prostitution: Little Progress 
----------------------------------- 
 
14. (U) Child prostitution -- one of the six WFCL -- is a 
serious problem, driven by the Philippines' popularity as a 
destination for sex tourists as well as economic and 
demographic conditions.  UNICEF and local NGOs estimate that 
60,000 to 100,000 children work in the commercial sex 
industry.  Most of these children are girls, and they come 
from very poor families with unemployed or irregularly 
employed parents.  Girls aged 7 to 16 years old are victims 
of trafficking for sexual exploitation.  There were no 
convictions under the 2003 anti-trafficking law during the 
past year.  DSWD estimates that the annual increase in 
prostituted children averages more than 3,200. 
 
15. (U) Although the Department of Labor and Employment has 
no separate program to curb the problem of child sex workers, 
minors rescued from prostitution dens are referred to the 
Department of Social Welfare and Development for basic social 
services such as counseling, medical services, temporary 
shelter and repatriation.  NGOs such as Virlanie Foundation, 
End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT) and the 
People's Recovery, Empowerment and Development Assistance 
(PREDA) Foundation Inc. complement government and ILO-IPEC 
efforts by offering counseling services, training, housing, 
and provision of formal and non-formal education to rescued 
child sex workers.  See Post's annual Anti-Trafficking in 
Persons report (ref B) for further information on the problem 
of child trafficking. 
 
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Comment 
------- 
 
16. (U) Overall, the Philippine government is trying to 
combat child labor, but it remains a serious problem.  The 
PTBP target of rescuing 44,500 working and at-risk children 
by 2006 is measurable and within reach.  While RA 9231 has 
strengthened and criminalized many elements of child labor, 
full implementation of this law faces the same challenges as 
other social legislation: limited awareness and training in 
the new law; low numbers of law enforcement and Department of 
Justice (DOJ) resources; a lack of focus on enforcement; and 
a lengthy prosecution process.  The continuing challenge is 
to translate existing laws into increased prosecutions and 
convictions in order to catch perpetrators and deter future 
violations of international norms and Philippine law, as well 
as alleviate the underlying economic and social conditions 
that perpetuate child labor. 
 
JOHNSON