The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) distributed educational assistance while the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Caraga handed out grocery items to 93 former child laborers in the Caraga region.

The gift-giving activity was carried out under the DOLE’s Project Angel Tree held in the municipality of Hinatuan in the province of Surigao del Sur.

The former child laborers were accompanied by their parents who also benefited from the program.

DOLE Caraga regional director Joffrey Suyao, underscored that the Department has regularly been monitoring their profiled child laborers in the region, and that parents of these children were provided with livelihood in order to sustain their daily needs and be able to send their children to school.

“Following the recent quakes and aftershocks that we experienced here in the region, many of our fellow Caraganons were having difficulty in coping as they were temporarily displaced from their respective homes to stay on safer grounds and left their livelihood aside. Some children also felt the need to help their parents earn income to support their daily needs,” said Dir. Suyao.

Suyao also emphasized that the educational assistance will serve as support for the children’s needs and ease the burden of the parents especially during these difficult times. 

As an active member of the Regional Committee for the Welfare of Children (RCWC) and other regional committees that look after the general well-being of the children, DOLE Caraga along with the local government units in the region continue to implement programs that will uplift the lives of the vulnerable sectors and prevent child labor cases.

Also, the DSWD Caraga headed by regional director Mari-Flor Dollaga-Libang, who chairs the RCWC stressed that collaboration between and among government agencies and LGUs in the region is vital to sustain the gains in the prevention of child labor and protection of children’s rights, hence, the DSWD intensifies its partnership with the different stakeholders.Project Angel Tree is a program of DOLE which provides an array of social services reminding child laborers that they are not alone in riding the waves of life. Benefactors or “angels” shared their generosity to the children through school supplies, food packs, and personal gifts. (JPG, PIA-Caraga with report from DSWD and DOLE Caraga)