Bohol kids to elect children

council rep during summit

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol Nov 17 (PIA)—For the very first time, Bohol kids would be electing a children’s representative to the Provincial Council for the Welfare of Children (PCWC), during the upcoming Provincial Children’s Summit at the Capitol’s Ceremonial Hall this November 26, 2023.

The Provincial Children’s Summit, which would be participated in by children who are 12 to 15 and have been elected as representatives of their municipal and city councils as well as the representatives of the Student Supreme Governments, according to Donna Belle Mante of the Office of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development.

Mante, who is also a social worker and who sits as the center chief of the Bohol Crisis and Intervention Center, said they have coordinated with the Department of Education (DepED) to allow the kids to join the summit.

Speaking during the weekly Kapihan sa PIA to commemorate November as the National Childrens’ Month, Mante, came along with Mariane Samaco of the local Social Welfare and Development Office.

The annual celebration allows the local leaders to give children chances to air out their needs, ideas and voice these out as future leaders of the country, explained Samaco.

The Provincial Council, which is constituted representatives of seven line agencies, also includes the Philippine National Police, childe development experts and concerned individuals.

These include the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Department of Health (DOH), DepEd, Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Department of Justice (DOJ), Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of labor and Employment (DOLE), two coordinating bodies in the National Nutrition Council and National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), private individuals, Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD) experts and one youth representative, is an offshoot of Presidential Decree 603, or the Child and Youth Welfare Code of 1974.

The council has been mandated to coordinate in the implementation and enforcement of all laws, formulate, monitor and evaluate policies, programs and measures for children.

This would also ensure that all programs, projects and activities in government consider the rights and welfare of the child and that these are child friendly.

Here, the child representative who will sit in the provincial council would advance the promotion of the rights of the child to survival, development, protection and participation, she added.

In the Philippines in 2023, statistics say that there are 39.75 million children from 0 to 17 years old.

In 2021, Child Welfare Council rates poverty incidence in children at 26.4% with an increase of 2.5% between 2018 to 2021.

With this, survival in children estimated at 10.46M is at stake and at risk, and with government resources barely enough, the allocation for children development ahs to be focused in areas where these funds could impact well.

Priorities in this area includes child care services, health and nutrition.

As to development, the council, including the child representative would strive to channel resources to early childhood care and development, day care services, education and the use of special education funds.

In the case of protection, the council would manage resources for social welfare and development agencies assisting children like no- government organizations, the setting up of barangay violence against women and children’s desks, local social welfare and development and protection for working children.

For children’s participation, the council would work for the setting up of Barangay Council for the Welfare of Children to assure their participation in governance, and craft [policy recommendations for legislation. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)

KIDS PARTICIPATION. The Office of the Provincial Social Welfare and Development through Donna Belle Mante announces the upcoming election of the first child representative to the Provincial Council for the Protection of Children, which assures children a voice in the planning and implementation of programs for the kids. With Mante is Mariane Samaco of the DSWD Social Welfare and Development Office, the secretariat for the council. (PIABohol)