?Meaningful steps are now being taken for promulgation of a consolidated children?s chapter that will ensure the adoption of policies and practices in child care in keeping with the spirit of the law.?27 The aspirations, the people, the culture of the country and reflect the ideas adumbrated in the universal declaration of the rights of a child. It is an offense to abandon or expose a child under the age of two years whereby the life of such child is permanently injured.
?In the Philippine Constitution it was stated that the state shall strengthen the family as a basic social institution. The natural right and duty of parents in rearing of the youth for civic efficiency and development of moral character shall receive the aid and support of the government. It was also said that the government equally share in the inherent right and duty of parents in training of their children to be good useful, and worthy citizens.?28
After the People Power Revolution, ?President Corazon Aquino signed the International Declaration on the Survival, Protection and Participation of Children in the 1989 World Summit and the Philippines, early on, ratified the Convention of the Rights of the Child. Their department has a special program called ?Sagip Batang Manggagawa? literally meaning ?Save the Child Laborer.?29 This particularly refers to children in bonded or force environment and to those difficult and hazardous circumstances. They pursue to rescue victims and prosecute erring recruiters and employers.
?Last November 9, 1993, President Ramos signed a law prohibiting the employment of children below 15 years old. However, it allows employment of children of the said age if they work directly under the management and the responsibility of parents.?30
The House of Representatives has approved two child friendly bills.
?One slaps a maximum penalty of 12 years in prison and a fine of P500,000 against the parents or legal guardians and employers of persons eighteen years old and below who are forced to do hazardous jobs. The bill also qualifies as hazardous jobs to those related to farming, hunting, logging, mining, quarrying, transport and navigation, construction and craftsmanship, and production processing occupations that call for the handling of heavy equipment like cables and semi-conductors. The bill makes no mention of child actors and commercial models who might also be subjected to long hours of work.?31 In 1995, our senate ratified International Labor Organization Convention Number 138 on the minimum age for the administration for employment. ?President Fidel V. Ramos signed a new law creating a Family and Children?s Court.?32 In hope to effectively implement this new pillar of justice on behalf of children, including victims of child abuse and intolerable child labor cases.
Globalization is upon us with the benefits and perils of liberalized trade. As demonstrated by the foreign currency speculators? attack on the Philippine Peso and other Asian currencies, the gains of a decade could be wiped out in a matter of days. We have lost money and precious resources for workers, for businesses, for schools, and even for public services. It is obvious that children?s welfare have been jeopardized as well. Even as we faced the old evils of child labor, we see new ones emerging from the global market place.
Global march against child labor launched ? ?A historic event unfolds in Manila last January 17,1998, with a launching of a ?Global March Against Child Labor? , an international campaign to champion the cause of some 250 million children worldwide who are forced to work for survival.? 33
Unprecedented in Philippine history, incumbent President Ramos and former President Aquino are taking the lead of the campaign launching.
These are just a few of the efforts and laws promulgated by the government but are these policies really implemented?
2. Inefficiency
Obviously, the government has so many laws and bills approved but just the same, exploitation of child labor in the Philippines continue inspite of adequate laws enacted in the past fifty years to put a stop tot the practice. According to one survey only a few of these are really implemented or bear little result and another reason for its continued existence is because of the low par enforcement of laws providing protection to the minor workers. It is also pointed that the government has the means to drastically reverse the situation- the revised labor code, violations of those provisions are now treated as criminal offenses.
It was stated in the Philippine Constitution, Article II section 4 that the government equally share in the responsibility of the parents in supporting the children but the fact is the government don?t share even just a little bit. What really is disturbing is that President Aquino during her time signed a law which allowed children below 15 years of age work. It was only in 1993, the time of Ramos that he removed and changed this law.
?According to the ILO their true mission is to bring the attention of the government officials to end the different forms of child labor. They also result and another reason for its continued existence is because of the low par enforcement of laws providing protection to the minor workers. It is also pointed that the government has the means to drastically reverse the situation- the revised labor code, violations of those provisions are now treated as criminal offenses.?34
It was stated in the Philippine Constitution, Article II section 4 that the government equally share in the responsibility of the parents in supporting the children but the fact is the government don?t share even just a little bit. What really is disturbing is that President Aquino during her time signed a law which allowed children below 15 years of age work. It was only in 1993, the time of Ramos that he removed and changed this law.
?Article 139 states that no child below fifteen years of age shall be employed and no case allow the employment of person below 18 years in an undertaking which is hazardous of deleterious in nature.? If this is so why are there still children engaged in hard labor. ?According to the ILO their true mission is to bring the attention of the government officials to end the different forms of child labor. They also said that the government is trying with little success to control child labor . Many local officials ignore child labor problems because they do not want to offend parents with working children. ? 35
It was noted that most of the politicians seeking public office are campaigning on the issues of law and order, economic reform and morality and honesty in the government. No one speaks of children-why it is important to educate, feed and house every Filipino child. It has not occurred to them that the stability is not possible in a world where children are deprived of human rights. A sytem that tolerates the enslavement of children in work places and the exploitation of young spawns conditions of violence, crime and disease.