MANILA (UCAN): Bishop Roberto Mallari of San Jose, chairperson of the Episcopal Commission on Catechism and Catholic Education of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, has warned of a growing number of child workers being exposed to dangerous working conditions saying the situation was alarming and saddening.
“The root of this sad reality is poverty and lack of livelihood options,” Bishop Mallari said, adding that children have the right to the basic necessities of life that society has failed to provide.
“The situation of the suffering children and those who are deprived of their rights and dignity leaves a great challenge to us as a Church and as a society,” the bishop said.
In a recent report, the Philippine Department of Labour and Employment said there are over 7,000 child workers, ranging in age from four to 17, in and around the capital, Manila.
The report revealed that most work as street vendors, while others are engaged in waste management, construction, transportation, domestic work and manufacturing. It also showed that 24 per cent of child labourers are not attending school due to lack of financial support or are not interested in education at all.
Meanwhile, estimates put the number of child labourers across the Philippines at more than two million. A study by the International Labour Organisation found that about 95 per cent of these child labourers are engaged in hazardous work.
Bishop Mallari called for a cooperative effort in solving the problems that lead to child labour. “God entrusted to us his beloved children,” he said, adding, “Ours is a task of taking care of them and being with them in their values formation.”
In 2018, the Labour Department of the United States warned in a report that a large number of children in the Philippines are still forced into sexual exploitation and drug trafficking.
The report, however, noted that the Philippines had made “a moderate advancement in efforts to eliminate the worst forms of child labour.”
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It noted that the government had already started a process of profiling child labourers and introduced guidelines to remove them from child labour and connect them with the services they need.
