Regional anti-child labor council

In kiddie rights promotion drive

MABINI, Bohol (PIA)—Over 200 individuals: parents, guardians, family members, law enforcement personnel, government officials and representatives reinforce the sum of all interventions in addressing all forms of child labor, violence, harassment towards the promotion and protection of the rights and welfare of all Filipino children as they professed commitment to fully support the implementation of the Philippine Program against Child Labor and relevant provisions.

During the recent Information and Service Caravan against Child Labor, the Regional Council Against Child Labor (RCACL); an inter-agency council of national government agencies led by the Department of Labor and Employment, gathered inside the Mabini Gymnasium for a full day of campaign activities that included an information awareness on Republic Act No. 9231, as amended by Republic Act No. 7610 and the Labor Code of the Philippines.

The DOLE partner agencies also brought in their frontline services for the participants while authorities detailed the intricacies of Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation of Children (OSAEC) and the anti-Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Materials (CSAEM).

Hailed as landmark legislations aimed at addressing the widespread issue of online sexual exploitation and abuse of children, these strengthen existing laws and puts in stricter measures to protect children against online exploitation, abuse, and the distribution or creation of materials depicting such abuse, explains a social worker of the Office of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development, Eunice Naomi Calamba.

If anyone of you who have any information of any form of online exploitation, sexual abuse, especially in children in working environments, you can immediately report to authorities, so we can stop and advance their protection, she urged.

Moreover, Mabini Municipal Health Officer Dr. Ivy Padernal-Unajan discussed about Mental Health, Adolescence Sexuality and Reproductive Health.

All of these, to push forward child protection against forced labor, physical, sexual and emotional abuse especially in the more complicated online world.

While lectures and information about the government initiatives on promoting protection of children especially in their working environments, partner national government agencies rendered frontline services for the community.

Joining the service caravan were the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority bringing skills trainings, Department of Health for free blood sugar testing, blood pressure monitoring, minor consultations and basic medicine dispensation, Social Security System on basic member inquiries, records updating and registration, PhilHealth on Yakap (Konsulta) registration, Maritime Authority of the Philippines on boat registration and boat captains license renewals, Bohol Employment and Placement Offices and its network.

Department of Agriculture on seeds distribution and farming technologies, BFAR on fisheries technical assistance, Philippine Coast Guard on Security, Safety and Environmental Numbering system, Philippine Statistics Authority on Philippine ID registration, Department of Environment and Natural Resources on chainsaw registration and transport permits and the Department of Agrarian Reform on land titles applications.

Mabini Mayor Grace Bernales-Lim also echoed the call for protection of children, and the promotion of their welfare, even as she readily agreed for the regional team to conduct the activity in her town. (PIABohol)

LABOURING FOR CHILD LABOR. National government agencies who partner with DOLE hauled off free services to Mabini residents during the Information and Service Caravan on Child Labor, as the government expands awareness on the protection of children, be they in working environments, in homes and in the virtual world. (PIABohol)