The International Labor Organization is working with the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) to educate Filipinos on how to distinguish child labor from “child work”. Read the rest of this entry »

At 15 years old, Avelino is already earning for his family. “Batang packer” as he is called, Avelino carries 50 kilos of gravel a day for P500 in the mines of Compostela Valley. “Gusto ko hindi na ako magtrabaho kaso lang wala akong pera. Kung hindi ka magtatrabaho wala kang kakainin,” (I don’t want to work, but we have no money. If I will not work, we will not eat), he said. Read the rest of this entry »

THE Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) in Northern Mindanao will no longer allow below 18 years old applicants in call centers firm. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, May 1, 2011—Government agencies should provide income generating activities for poor parents to keep their children off the streets, a Church official said. Read the rest of this entry »

DAVAO CITY, April 28 (PIA) – A 16-year old senior high school student Cherish Nymph Maniquez or “Chin-Chin” to her family knew how hard is it to work when she’s supposed to start first grade. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines – TV host Willie Revillame and top officials of TV5 have been sued for child abuse by rights advocates on Monday in connection with a crying boy who was made to dance suggestively and was given P10,000 on “Willing Willie” last March 12. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) – The government is stepping up its anti-child labor drive by seeking the participation of 42,000 villages in the implementation of the administration’s program, a senior government official said today. Read the rest of this entry »

If there’s anything the reported Willie Revillame controversy did, it gave him international notoriety. Arriving from a trip to the United States and Canada, I could not believe how many Asian publications carried the story on the reported child abuse in Revillame’s TV program. What it actually did was to highlight the despicable number of child abuse cases in the Philippines. Lawyer Leonard de Vera decried in a recent press conference that the controversy was an “orchestrated effort” to destroy the game show host, virtually accusing ABS-CBN of launching an organized campaign against Revillame and his show, pointing out that Dr. Honey Carandang – mother of former ANC anchor Ricky Carandang – wrote to MTRCB and gave undue attention to the alleged “child abuse.”

While it may be true that the Jan-Jan issue was blown out of proportion, the fact is many perceive Revillame to be an unremorseful and arrogant recidivist whose fame and fortune has gone to his head, recalling to mind previous incidents involving him, all of which have been equally well-publicized. But what is more unfortunate for him is that April also happens to be the National Child Abuse Prevention Month in the United States. Jan-Jan’s video is being used as an example of just how serious a problem child abuse has become all over the world because of poverty. Read the rest of this entry »

MANILA, Apr 14, 2011 (IPS) – At the tender age of 10, Rodel Morozco was working in a goldmine and crawling inside tunnels, until one day he fell 200 feet underground because his father had blasted the tunnel with dynamite. Read the rest of this entry »

Lawmakers recently called for a congressional probe on the report of the United States Department of Labor that the Philippines “has the worst forms of child labor.” Read the rest of this entry »