KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato (PIA)— “The government alone cannot address the issue of child labor in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, thus collaboration of different concerned agencies and stakeholders is needed.”
This is what Jennylyn Aguinaldo, project manager of the International Labour Organization, emphasized during the recent training of trainers for the program to fight child labor in the Bangsamoro Region.
“Ang issue ng child labor ay hindi po simple. Ito po ay isang complex issue na kailangan pagtulungan, hindi lamang ng iba’t ibang ahensya o ministries ng gobyerno, kundi pati ng stakeholders from different sectors,” Aguinaldo stated.
Based on the October 2020 labor force survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority, the Bangsamoro Region ranked third with a 9.1 percent distribution of child laborers all over the country.
With this, the ILO, in partnership with the Ministry of Labor and Employment and the Integrated Resource Development for Tri-People, is set to implement a program, which will be funded by the government of Japan, to address child labor.
Further, the program will focus on capacitating BARMM ministers, workers of law enforcement agencies, members of workers’ and employers’ organizations, and stakeholders to promote compliance and enforcement of child labor.
In line with this, representatives, who are part of the pool of trainers, from concerned ministries and offices of the BARMM government participated in the training of trainers to prepare them for the 13 training roll-out sessions in Cotabato City and Iligan City this June until October 2023.
“We have this child labor training para mamobilize natin ang mga law enforcers, ang gobyerno, mga partners, at kasama na rin ang community para sugpuin ang child labor,” Aguinaldo said.
The roll-out is important to equip concerned offices with relevant information on child labor for them to act accordingly and implement programs that best combat the issue on child labor. (PIA 12)
