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DE RUEHML #0102/01 0150839
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FM AMEMBASSY MANILA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2891
INFO RHHMUNA/CDRUSPACOM HONOLULU HI IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS MANILA 000102 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EIND ELAB ETRD PHUM SOCI USAID RP
SUBJECT: CHILD LABOR INFORMATION FOR TRADE AND DEVELOPMENT 
ACT (GSP) 2008 REPORT 
 
REF: A. 08 STATE 127448 B. 07 MANILA 03857 
 
¶1.  SUMMARY: This cable provides input requested for the 
Secretary of Labor's annual report to Congress on the 
implementation of commitments to eliminate the worst forms of 
child labor, (Ref A).  It updates information provided by 
Post in 2007, (Ref B), regarding child labor laws and 
regulations in the Philippines, law enforcement capabilities, 
social programs aimed at prevention, statistics on child 
labor and child education, and government policies and 
programs to combat child labor and child trafficking. 
 
¶2.  Sources of information used during the preparation of 
this update include the Philippine Department of Labor and 
Employment (DOLE), the Philippine Department of Social 
Welfare and Development (DSWD), the International Labor 
Organization (ILO), and World Vision.  The Philippine 
Government has strong laws in place to combat child labor and 
trafficking abuses, but budgetary constraints, inefficient 
law enforcement agencies, and an overburdened judiciary 
hinder successful prosecution of such abuses. The government 
and various NGOs conduct awareness-raising training 
activities in local communities throughout the country, but 
widespread poverty and a rapidly increasing population 
(approximately 36% of the population are age 14 years and 
under) contribute to a socio-economic environment in which 
child labor is seen by many in society as necessary to the 
economic survival of the poorest families.  END SUMMARY 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Laws Proscribing the Worst Forms of Child Labor 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶3.  The Philippines has a strong set of laws to protect the 
rights and welfare of children, especially those working in 
hazardous conditions or in the worst forms of child labor. 
Republic Act 9231 of 2003, "An Act Providing for the 
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor and Affording 
Strong Protection for the Working Child," amends the Labor 
Code and codifies regulations set forth in the UN Convention 
on the Rights of the Child and ILO Convention 182. 
 
¶4.  Republic Act 9231 defines the worst forms of child labor 
as: (1) the trafficking, debt bondage and forced labor of 
children, including recruitment of children for use in armed 
conflict; (2) child prostitution and pornography; (3) the use 
of a child for illegal or illicit activities, including drug 
trafficking; and (4) work which, by its nature or the 
circumstances in which it is carried out, is hazardous or 
likely to be harmful to the health, safety or morals of 
children.  Criteria for categorizing work as hazardous 
include work that degrades the worth and dignity of a child; 
exposes the child to physical, psychological, or sexual 
abuse; is performed underground, underwater, or at dangerous 
heights; involves the use of dangerous machinery, equipment, 
and tools; requires the handling of heavy loads; exposes 
children to extreme temperatures, noise levels, or 
vibrations; is performed under particularly difficult 
conditions; exposes the child to dangerous biological agents; 
or involves the manufacture of handling of explosives and 
other pyrotechnic products.  Those found guilty of the worst 
forms of child labor may be fined between 100,000 and 1 
million pesos (between USD $2150 and USD $21,500), and/or 
imprisoned for 12 to 20 years. 
 
¶5.  The Labor Code prohibits the employment of children under 
the age of 15, except when working directly with a parent and 
when the work does not endanger the child's life, safety, 
health, or morals, or interfere with schooling.  Children 
under 15 are allowed to work in the media industry, including 
cinema, theater, television, and radio, when the child's 
participation is essential to the production.  The law 
requires that any child under age 15 employed under these 
guidelines must receive a special permit from the DOLE, but 
does not define the absolute minimum age for employment by 
children.  The Armed Forces of the Philippines does not 
recruit soldiers below 18 years of age.  However, there were 
reports indicating that rebel groups including the New 
People's Army and the Abu Sayyaf Group continued to recruit 
minors (below age 18). 
 
¶6.  Republic Act 9231 also amends the limits on children's 
working hours.  Children below 15 years are not allowed to 
work more than four hours a day, and work should not exceed 
twenty hours per week.  Children below 15 years are not 
allowed to work between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.  Children 
aged 16 to 17 years are not allowed to work between 10:00 
p.m. and 6:00 a.m. 
 
¶7.  Republic Act 9208 of 2003 criminalizes trafficking in 
persons, including trafficking for adoption, sex tourism, 
prostitution, pornography, the recruitment of children into 
 
armed conflict, or under the guise of arranged marriage.  The 
trafficking of a child brings higher penalties of life 
imprisonment and a fine of 2 to 5 million pesos (USD $43,000 
to USD $107,500).  Trafficking is also a non-bailable 
offense.  The law entitles victims and survivors to 
counseling, temporary shelter, health care, legal assistance, 
and access to the government's witness protection program. 
 
¶8.  Other laws used by government to protect the welfare of 
children include:  Republic Act 7610 of 1992, "Special 
Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation, and 
Discrimination Act," which criminalizes child prostitution 
and sexual abuse, child trafficking, child pornography, and 
other acts of child abuse; and Republic Act 8043 of 1995, 
"Inter-Country Adoption Act," which ensures the protection of 
Filipino children from abuse, exploitation, trafficking, 
and/or sale.  On November 6, 2008, the government's Special 
Committee for the Protection of Children formally launched 
the revised guidelines for media reporting and coverage of 
children's cases.  The guidelines stress the need to protect 
children's rights to privacy and dignity, and the right to be 
heard. 
 
¶9.  The Philippines has signed and ratified the major 
international agreements to protect the rights and welfare of 
children, including the UN Convention on the Rights of the 
Child (ratified in January 1990); the Optional Protocol on 
the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution, and Child 
Pornography (ratified in April 2002); ILO Convention 138 on 
Minimum Age (ratified in June 1998); and ILO Convention 182 
on the Worst Forms of Child Labor (ratified in November 2000). 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Implementation of Laws Remains Limited 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  While Republic Act 9231's passage improved the legal 
protections for working children, full implementation of this 
law faces the same challenges as other social legislation: 
limited awareness and training in the law; low numbers of law 
enforcement, Department of Labor and Employment, and 
Department of Justice (DOJ) resources; a lack of focus on 
enforcement; and a lengthy prosecution process.  The 
continuing challenge, as with combating trafficking in 
persons, is to translate existing laws into effective 
deterrents to violations of international norms and 
Philippine law, as well as to alleviate the underlying 
economic and social conditions that perpetuate child labor. 
 
¶11.  DOLE is the lead government agency responsible for 
enforcing child labor laws through its labor standards 
enforcement offices.  DOLE employs only 153 labor inspectors 
nationwide to monitor and enforce all aspects of the amended 
Labor Code, making it difficult to investigate effectively 
complaints and violations of child labor laws.  DOLE has an 
additional 45 vacant labor inspector positions but lacks 
funding to fill them. 
 
¶12.  DOLE leads the "Sagip Batang Manggagawa" (Rescue the 
Child Workers, or SBM) program, an interagency quick action 
mechanism composed of DOLE, Philippine National Police (PNP), 
and DSWD.  The SBM interagency mechanism removed 1,723 child 
labor victims from harmful situations between 2001 and 2007. 
In the first three months of 2008, SBM conducted 16 removal 
operations, involving 59 child workers.  The minors were 
referred to DSWD for rehabilitation and reintegration. 
Statistics for the remainder of 2008 are not yet available; 
however, one of DOLE's priorities for 2009 is to improve its 
statistical and reporting system. 
 
¶13.  Prosecutions and convictions for child labor continue to 
be limited.  Since 1995, only six people have been convicted 
or violating the child labor law.  From 2003 to the end of 
2008, fifteen establishments employing 45 minors were closed 
by DOLE for violating Republic Acts 9231 and 9208.  Charges 
have been filed against the owners of the establishments 
(primarily videoke clubs), and litigation is ongoing.  DOLE's 
Bureau of Women and Young Workers noted that data on child 
labor prosecutions may be inaccurate due to incomplete 
statistics from the provinces. 
 
¶14.  The government continued to conduct awareness raising 
activities on child labor and child trafficking laws.  In 
January DOLE and a local NGO jointly organized a national 
consultation on the prevention of trafficking for the worst 
forms of child labor.  DOLE also regularly conducted child 
labor training programs for their labor inspectors.  The 
government acknowledged that the limited number of labor 
inspectors, who assess the establishments' compliance on 
general labor standards and are not entirely focused on the 
employment of child labor, made it difficult to enforce child 
labor laws. 
 
 
-------------------------------- 
Government Policies and Programs 
-------------------------------- 
 
¶15.  The Philippine National Strategic Framework for Plan 
Development for Children, 2000-2025, also known as "Child 
21," and the National Program Against Child Labor (NPACL), 
presently known as the Philippine Program Against Child Labor 
(PPACL), are the primary government policy instruments for 
the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation 
of programs designed to prevent and eliminate child labor in 
the Philippines.  The Medium Term Philippine Development Plan 
2004-2010 also includes measures for reducing the incidence 
of child labor, especially in hazardous occupations.  In the 
plan, the Philippine Government pledges to strengthen 
mechanisms to monitor the implementation of child protection 
laws; develop "social technologies" to respond to child 
trafficking and pornography; and implement an enhanced 
program for children in armed conflict.  In May 2008, DOLE 
organized a Harmonization Workshop for the PPACL Plan of 
Action 2008-2010 to enable stakeholders to actively 
participate in all stages of the planning process and 
drafting of the plan. 
 
¶16.  In 2008 the DOLE completed its plan of action for the 
Philippine Program Against Child Labor (PPACL) Strategic 
Framework, 2007-2015.  The plan established a multi-level 
information system to regularly update a reliable database 
system on child labor in all regions.  It also 
institutionalized strategic partnerships with UNICEF, the 
International Labor Organization (ILO), and 611 civil society 
groups and NGOs nationwide.  The plan calls for conducting 
continuing awareness training for DOLE and Philippine 
National Police (PNP) employees as well as for the parents of 
child laborers.  The plan seeks to promote a pro-active 
response by government structures at all levels to eliminate 
child labor and to enforce compliance with relevant laws and 
policies. 
 
¶17.  The Philippine Government, with support from the U.S. 
and other foreign governments, participated in several 
initiatives to combat child labor in the country.  The key 
programs, implemented in cooperation with the ILO and World 
Vision were: 
 
-- Combating Child Labor in Small-Scale Mining:  ILO Manila, 
in partnership with the Technical Education and Skills 
Development Authority (TESDA), is working to combat child 
labor in small-scale mining in Camarines Norte province. 
This USD $20,000 project funded by the Finnish Embassy aims 
to enroll 40 child laborers in vocational skills training 
and provides entrepreneurship training for the parents. 
Twenty children have already received skills training, and 
the other twenty have been enrolled.  A training of trainers 
(TOT) module to create a pool of trainers from TESDA, 
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), DOLE, and a 
cooperative bank have also been established for the province. 
 TESDA's skills training and job placement programs are 
currently being evaluated to make the program more responsive 
to the needs of working children and their families. 
 
-- ABK Education Initiative Phase 2:  World Vision, which has 
entered into separate Memorandums of Agreement (MOA) with 
DOLE and the Department of Education to work with local 
government units (LGUs) and other NGO partners, has begun 
implementing Phase 2 of the ABK Education Initiative.  This 
four-year, U.S.-supported project aims to withdraw and 
prevent an estimated 30,000 children from working in seven 
hazardous occupations:  sugarcane plantations and other 
commercial agricultural enterprises, domestic work, 
commercial sex, mining and quarrying, pyrotechnics 
production, scavenging, and commercial fishing.  The ABK 
Initiative provides transitional or vocational education 
programs for working children as well as those identified to 
be "at-risk."  The training program is an open enrollment 
system that consists of 10 modules the children must complete 
in order to be awarded the credits.  Phase 1 of the program, 
which ended in 2008, provided elementary, high school, 
vocational technical training and alternative learning 
systems education to 31,320 children, 14,323 of whom were 
considered to be "at-risk."  Phase 2, which began in October 
2008, has already enrolled 9,318 child laborers. 
 
-- Child Labor Initiative (ChiLI) Project:  In partnership 
with the LGUs and other government departments, World Vision 
has implemented a USD $50,000 project co-funded by the Korean 
government in three areas of Leyte province to: improve 
access of working children to formal education and 
alternative learning systems; increase capacity of parents 
and guardians to provide for their children; and increase 
communities' awareness of their responsibility to nurture and 
 
protect their children.  The project, which began in June 
2007 and ended in May 2008, used counseling and education to 
remove 300 children from workplaces.  A total of 275 of these 
children successfully completed the school year.  The ChiLI 
Project also trained 150 parents and guardians on parental 
responsibilities and provided awareness training to the 
affected communities on child labor and children's rights. 
 
¶18.  DOLE is implementing the second phase of a USD $400,000 
project funded by the Geneva-based Elimination of Child Labor 
in Tobacco (ECLT) Foundation to reduce the incidence of child 
labor in the tobacco fields of the Ilocos region.  From 
January to September 2008, the project provided scholarship 
grants to 246 children and conducted entrepreneurship 
training for 280 parents.  It also held capacity-building 
seminars for 213 program partners in five municipalities. 
 
¶19.  The government devoted a significant portion of its 
limited budget resources to the education of children.  The 
Department of Education (DepEd) had the largest budget of any 
cabinet department - 12 percent of the national budget. 
Elementary and secondary education are free and compulsory 
through age 11, but the quality of the education remains poor 
due in part to insufficient resources.  Government support 
for the education of poor children is provided indirectly 
through the public school system rather than through targeted 
subsidies.  The elementary public school enrollment rate for 
the 2007-2008 school year was 76 percent.  The enrollment 
rate for secondary students is not available. 
 
¶20.  DepEd's Bureau of Non-Formal Education develops and 
encourages the use of learning modules for parents of working 
children in the various regions with high incidences of the 
worst forms of child labor.  Translated into local dialects, 
the modules educate parents about their children's health 
needs and basic rights and opportunities for livelihood and 
income-generating projects.  DepEd also operates a home-study 
program designed to prevent students from dropping out of 
school due to poverty, illness, or early marriage.  With 
assistance from the Philippines Overseas Employment Agency 
(POEA) and the Commission on Filipinos Overseas, DepEd 
incorporated lessons on international migration, including 
illegal recruitment and mail order brides, into social 
studies and values education classes in public elementary and 
secondary schools throughout the country. 
 
---------------------- 
Child Labor Statistics 
---------------------- 
 
¶21.  According to the latest Philippine Government survey in 
2001, an estimated 4 million children between the ages of 5 
and 17 are engaged in child labor.  More than half of the 
working children (2.1 million) were found to be working in 
agriculture and related industries, of whom about 71 percent 
were male and 60 percent were aged 5 to 14 years old.  Other 
industry groups with high numbers of children at work were in 
the wholesale and retail services (approximately 747,000 or 
18.6 percent), domestic work (230,000 or 5.7 percent), 
fishing (208,000 or 5.2 percent), and manufacturing (186,000) 
or 4.6 percent).  The director of DOLE's Bureau of Women and 
Young Workers told Post that the number of child laborers may 
have increased since the 2001 survey, but the government does 
not have the funds to conduct a new survey. 
 
--------------------------- 
COMBATING CHILD TRAFFICKING 
--------------------------- 
 
¶22.  The Philippines is an origin, destination and, to a 
lesser extent, a transit country for children trafficked for 
the purpose of sexual exploitation and forced labor. 
Children and young women from poor farming communities in the 
central and southern Philippines are brought to major urban 
centers and employed as factory workers, domestic helpers, or 
prostitutes.  Victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation 
are generally girls, with ages ranging from 7 to 16 years 
old.  Most of these children come from very poor families 
with unemployed or irregularly employed parents.  The Visayan 
Forum Foundation in 2008 established a halfway house near 
Manila's airport for rescued children identified by airport 
officials as victims of trafficking. 
 
¶23.  Child prostitution is a serious problem, exacerbated by 
the Philippines' reputation as a destination for sex tourists 
as well as the country's economic and demographic conditions. 
 Sex tourists reportedly come from East Asia, Europe, North 
America, and neighboring countries to engage in sexual 
activity with minors.  UNICEF and local NGOs estimate that 
60,000 to 100,000 children work in the commercial sex 
industry.  DSWD estimates a net increase of 3,200 prostituted 
children each year.  The government cooperates with the USG 
 
in prosecuting American nationals under the terms of the U.S. 
Protect Act of 2003, which criminalized the commission by 
American nationals overseas of child abuse, including child 
pornography and other sexual offenses against a minor. 
Social workers at World Vision told Post that while the 
international sex tourism industry garners the most 
headlines, most child prostitutes work in local communities 
where it is very difficult for the government and the NGOs to 
identify them.  They frequently work in videoke bars by using 
fake IDs or on the city streets where it is easy for them to 
avoid police and social workers. 
 
¶24.  The Philippine Government has no central database of 
trafficking information; however, various government agencies 
and NGOs document cases of trafficking.  The Inter-Agency 
Council Against Trafficking in Persons (IACAT) coordinates, 
monitors, and oversees the implementation of Republic Act 
9208, and serves as an umbrella organization to coordinate 
anti-trafficking efforts.  The DOJ Secretary and the DSWD 
Secretary co-chair IACAT.  Other member agencies include the 
Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippine Overseas Employment 
Administration, National Commission on the Role of Filipino 
Women, Bureau of Immigration, Department of Labor and 
Employment, National Bureau of Investigation, and the 
Philippine National Police.  Three NGOs representing women, 
children, and overseas Filipino workers are also part of 
IACAT. 
 
¶25.  The Philippine Government has made progress in combating 
trafficking, particularly in the areas of law enforcement and 
victim protection and assistance.  There have been twelve 
convictions under the 2003 anti-trafficking in persons law, 
involving 55 female victims, including minors.  All of these 
victims were trafficked for prostitution.  DSWD provides 
basic social services such as counseling, medical services, 
temporary shelter, and repatriation for minors rescued from 
prostitution.  DSWD operates 38 temporary shelters for 
victims throughout the country.  Of these, 11 centers are for 
women, 13 are for girls, and the remaining 14 are for boys, 
men, and the elderly.  From January through September 2008, 
DSWD assisted 89 victims of child prostitution and 149 
victims of child trafficking.  DSWD also referred cases for 
women and children to accredited NGOs, which provided 
temporary shelter and community services to women and 
children in crisis, including victims of trafficking. 
 
¶26.  NGOs such as the Visayan Forum Foundation, Virlanie 
Foundations, End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and 
the Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT), 
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women (CATW), and the 
People's Recovery, Empowerment, and Development Assistance 
(PREDA) Foundation Inc. complement government efforts by 
offering counseling services, training, housing, and formal 
and non-formal education to rescued child trafficking victims. 
 
¶27.  The Philippine Government has enacted all the necessary 
laws to combat the worst forms of child labor as called for 
in article 4 of ILO Convention 182.  The government and 
various NGOs are working hard to educate the parents of child 
laborers and their local communities about the rights of 
children.  They have set up community watch groups and have 
trained teachers to advocate for children who are being 
victimized or trafficked.  One of the most difficult tasks 
faced by both government workers and NGOs is in educating 
parents on the difference between child labor and acceptable 
child work.  Large sugar plantations hire only adults to work 
their fields, but the parents bring the children along to 
help fertilize the fields, weed, and cut the cane to maximize 
the families' earnings.  The government finds it very 
difficult legally to prosecute the plantation owners in such 
cases, so the government and NGOs are focusing their efforts 
on education and assistance to the families. 
 
¶28.  A substantial portion of the child labor force is 
working in domestic households and home-based cottage 
industries, where government does not have the resources to 
monitor their use of child labor.  To compensate for this 
lack of visibility, DOLE, working with PNP, has sought 
support from the Women and Children's desks in police 
stations to investigate complaints of child labor abuse.  A 
national emergency hotline handles calls involving incidents 
of child labor abuse and trafficking and reports them to 
local government units.  The lack of hard statistics and data 
makes it nearly impossible to estimate the content of child 
labor in any given manufactured product, but anecdotal 
evidence lends support to the conclusion that child labor is 
not a significant component of most Philippine exports.  The 
Philippine Government has enacted the necessary laws to 
identify and eliminate the worst forms of child labor and, in 
conjunction with its strategic partners, is working to deter 
and combat child labor and trafficking.  The effectiveness of 
the government's efforts, however, is limited by lack of 
 
funds, weak enforcement, and a cumbersome judicial process. 
 
KENNEY