Good morning ladies and gentlemen.

This house believes that child labor should be banned in

the Philippines. First, let’s define what child labor is (if nabigay na ang definition, mag-agree), UNICEF
defines child labor as “work that exceeds a minimum number of hours, depending on the age of a child
and on the type of work.” In the Philippines, there are 2.1 million child labourers aged 5-17 years old
based on the 2011 Survey on Children of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) . About 95 per cent of
them are in hazardous work. Sixty-nine per cent of these are aged 15-17 years old, and exposed to
hazardous work, others work in farms and plantations, in dangerous mines, on streets, in factories, and
in private homes as child domestic workers. Agriculture remains to be the sector where most child
labourers can be found at 58 per cent. As of 2013, there are 3.210 million child laborers in the
Philippines.

We have many arguments but we will focus with only two. First child labor deprives the children
of their childhood and potentials and education. How? Children miss school and proper education that
could enable them to find better paid jobs in the future as adults. In short, children are exploited. If you
are aware, in a GMA’s documentary, I-witness, a 13 year old girl named Ana, not her real name, bed
with at least 5 men every night just to sustain their needs. How sad it is to know that her parents gave
consent to this. Ana is only one of the millions of Filipino children being deprived of their rights and now
you are saying that child labor is alright? Yes it is true that poverty is the root cause of the child labor in
the first place, but instead of allowing the child labor in the Philippines, the government should
implement programs not only for the children but also for their families such as job opportunities for the
parents. Children are supposed to be sitting in schools; they should be in schools as what the children
should be or playing hide-and-seek and the like as because of child labor their innocence, potentials,
talents, mental and physical development are deprived.

Next point is that child labor poses hazards to children’s health and lives. Children often work in
extremely difficult working condition, and with very long work duration that their body cannot
accommodate. The works are too heavy for them and supervisor could be abusive. Child labor could
also lead to death, like the incident in Bulacan, the walls that collapsed during the construction of a
warehouse claimed 12 lives including 2 minors, 14 and 7, and both are workers of the said warehouse.
The firm Hoclim Co Construction Corporation and its client Number One Golden Dragon Realty
Corporation also operated without a permit as the investigation found. In short, children were hired
illegally and if the firms insist, they can say that they are not liable for it. Children could also be subject
to psychological, verbal, or physical/sexual abuse as what I have mention about Ana. Because they are
children, without the supervision of the parents, they are subject to abuse and also because of the
weaker body. Anna Leah Colina, executive director of the non-government Ecumenical Institute for
Labor Education and Research also found out that children were forced to work on 16-hour shifts in
some of the mining firms in the country. She then cited a case of a child named Julius (not his real name)
to show the extreme and hazardous conditions on which this kid is working with. “The 15-year-old boy is
one of many children in the village of Diwata in Compostela Valley province who work alongside adults
in the tunnels of a gold mine. From early morning until sundown, Julius is inside the tunnel with a
sledgehammer, a shovel and a pickaxe with only a plastic helmet, a pair of boots and gloves for
protection.” Imagine the risk Julius is facing every day. Children work in unstable 25-meter-deep pits
that could collapse at any moment. They also process gold with mercury, a toxic metal, risking
irreversible health damage from mercury poisoning. Human Rights Watch also interviewed witnesses to
a fatal mining accident in Camarines Norte, in which a 17-year-old boy and his adult brother were
asphyxiated in a deep pit mine in September 2014.

To sum up, as the leader of the opposition, we believe that child labor should be ban as it
deprives the childhood, potentials, and education of the children and that child labor exposes the
children in a workplace that could lead to death and risk of health lives of the children. A question that I
will leave you is that when you become parents, would you be willing to risk your children’s lives in child
labor.

Labor Code; An Act Instituting Policies for

Minimum Age of Work Yes 15 the Protection and

Welfare of Domestic Workers

Minimum Age for

Yes 18 Labor Code
Hazardous Work
Republic Act No. 679, as further amended
List of Hazardous
by Presidential Decree
Occupations
Yes -
No. 148, Woman and Child Labor Law,
Prohibited for Children
Department Order 4

Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of

Prohibition of Forced 2012, Republic Act
Yes -
Labor
No. 10364

Act Providing for the Elimination of the

Worst Forms of Child
Labor and Affording Stronger Protection for
the Working Child,
Prohibition of Child Republic Act No. 9231; Expanded Anti-
Yes -
Trafficking Trafficking in Persons
Act of 2012; Special Protection of Children
Against Abuse,
Exploitation and Discrimination Act

Prohibition of Commercial Yes - Act Providing for the Elimination of the

Sexual Worst Forms of Child
Exploitation of Children Labor and Affording Stronger Protection for
the Working Child;
Special Protection of Children Against
Abuse, Exploitation
and Discrimination Act; Anti-Child
 Pornography Act of 2009,
Republic Act No. 9775; Cybercrime
Prevention Act

Act Providing for the Elimination of the

Worst Forms of Child
Labor and Affording Stronger Protection for
Prohibition of Using the Working Child,
Children in Illicit Republic Act No. 9231; Special Protection
Yes -
Activities of Children Against
Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act;
Comprehensive
Dangerous Drugs Act

Memorandum Circular No. 13 on Selective

Enlistment/
Reenlistment of the Department of National
Minimum Age for
Defense and the
Compulsory Military
Yes 18
Armed Forces of the Philippines; Special
Recruitment
Protection of Children
Against Abuse, Exploitation and
Discrimination Act

Memorandum Circular No. 13 on Selective

Enlistment/
Combat: Yes
Minimum Age for Reenlistment of the Department of National
Voluntary Military 18/1 Defense and the
7
Service Non- Armed Forces of the Philippines; 2003
Yes Declaration on Ratifying
Combat:
the Optional Protocol

Compulsory Education
Yes 18 Enhanced Basic Education Act of 2013
Age
Free Public Education Yes - Philippine Constitution

Work is appropriate to child's age and mental capabilities

Supervised by responsible and caring adults
Limited hours of work; does not hinder the child from going to school, playing or resting
Workplace is kept safe and child friendly, does not pose hazards to health and life of the child
Child's physical, emotional and mental well-being are nourished even in the work environment
Child works voluntarily to participate in the family responsibility of maintaining the household
Child is justly compensated materially and psychologically
Child's work is regulated by law or governed by family/community norms and values
Child's work serves as a vehicle for social advancement and improvement in the child's quality of life