Advocacy Background

I. Introduction

Consuelo Foundation has, for more than three decades, been advocating for the
promotion of children’s and their families’ well-being as well as the prevention and
treatment of abuse, neglect and exploitation. This is in line with Consuelo’s vision of
renewing hope to those who have lost it and giving hope to those who never had it.

In accordance with its strategy, catalyzing systems change is one of Consuelo’s core
objectives in promoting children’s rights and well-being. For Consuelo, advocacy is a set
of intentional, influencing activities based on child rights and evidence aimed at changing
society’s attitudes and behaviors towards children and their rights.

This framework intends to provide guidelines within which Consuelo will approach its
advocacies, reinforcing its role as a strategic actor that can influence systems by
convening and engaging stakeholders at various levels, including families and
communities, government, policy makers and researchers, consistent with Consuelo’s
Strategic Plan. This framework will also inform and complements Consuelo’s programs,
strategic innovations, and research agenda.

II. Background and Context

a. Problem Analysis

Children make up a significant sector of the country’s population, comprising

42.97M aged 0 to 14 (42.6% of total population) and 6.21M aged 15-17.1 It is unfortunate
that children remain among the most vulnerable of our population. In recent years, this
was further exacerbated by challenges brought on by emergencies and the current
pandemic.

Protection Rights

The National Baseline Study on Violence Against Children2 reports that 66% of
children experienced a form of physical violence, with more than half of the cases

1
2015 Census Demographics, Philippines Statistics Authority.
2
Council for the Welfare of Children and UNICEF Philippines 2017

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happening at home. Nearly 60% were verbally abused, threatened and/or abandoned by
their parents. The study further showed that 17% of children aged 13 to below 18
experienced a form of sexual violence while growing up, and 45% experience
cyberviolence. Abuse and violence against children continue and are exacerbated by
the pandemic. Among the drivers of violence against children in the home includes social
norms around the use of and effectiveness of discipline, authoritarian parenting, and a
combination of parental histories of abuse while growing up, financial stress and
substance misuse while the lack of supervision, single headed households and absent
parents (eg due to migration) increases the vulnerability of children to sexual violence at
home.3

The Philippines has also been tagged as an OSAEC (online sexual abuse and
exploitation of children) hotspot, being the largest known source country of child abuse
materials.4 With the onset of the pandemic, the DOJ has reported a 264% increase in the
number of reported cases of OSAEC in the country.5 OSAEC thrives in the country due to
high incidence of poverty, familial obligation, cheap and easy access to mobile devices
and internet connectivity, prevailing social norms, high proficiency in English (making it
easy for perpetrators to communicate with victims), weak enforcement of laws,
inadequate capacity of law enforcement in case and evidence management, among
others.6

Children view their local government as the main agency to which cases of child
abuse and violence against children can be reported, particularly to barangay officials,
the local social workers and the police.7 The concern, however, is children’s access to
reporting mechanisms in their barangay and LGU if they cannot go out of their homes
(during quarantine restrictions) and do not see their family members as the first line for
reporting incidences of abuse.

Implementation of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare law remains poor. Among the
gaps are lack of capacities of duty bearers to perform their responsibilities under the law
(eg administration of community-based intervention and diversion programs), insufficient
Bahay Pag-asas and lack of social workers.8 The PNP records showed a total of 19,557
cases of CICLs were investigated in 2019, with most CICLs belonging to the 15-18 age
group.9 Among the reasons why children are more likely to commit crimes are being from

3
Child Protection Network, University of Edinburgh, University of the Philippines and UNICEF, A
Systematic Literature Review of the Drivers of Violence Affecting Children: the Philippines, 2016.
4
International Justice Mission, Online Sexual Exploitation of Children in the Philippines, 2020.
5
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1103852
6
Civil Society Coalition for the Convention on the Rights of the Child Philippines (CSC-CRC),
Philippine Child Situationer, 2021.
7
Save the Children Philippines, Ako at ang COVID 19: Child Rights Monitoring in the Time of
COVID 19, 2021
8
CSC-CRC, Philippine Child Situationer.
9
Juvenile Justice and Welfare Council, Situational Analysis on Children in Detention Facilities in
the Philippines, 2020.

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low-income or dysfunctional families, lack of parenting skills of parents/guardians,
exposure to violence in the family or community, and inability to manage anger and
negative emotions.10 Despite the juvenile justice law prohibiting the detention of children
in jails, the CHR has found a total of 490 CICLs kept in police lock ups and jails from 2014
to 2018 during its monitoring visits.11 Implementation of the Juvenile Justice Welfare Act
is lacking. There are only 85 Bahay Pag-Asa in the country, 82 of which are managed by
LGUs but only 72 are operational.12

Provision Rights (Survival and Development)

In 2018, the PSA has found that 23.9% children belong to poor families and 8.1%
children were food poor.13 A situation analysis of children in the COVID 19 pandemic
showed that food and livelihood were identified as the two most important concerns
raised by children.14 SWS surveys show that hunger rose sharply in 2020, with 31%
families experiencing hunger and 9% suffering severe hunger. The country’s human
capital index indicates that the future productivity of a child born today will be half of
what could have been achieved with complete education and health.15

Access to adolescent health and mental health services are limited for children,
even as about 1/3 of children respondents in a study said that they have heard of or know
a peer who has gotten pregnant.16 With the absence of peer support and face to face
interaction in educational facilities, children do not have the venue to discuss their
concerns about sexual and reproductive health, as well as mental health issues. Various
studies cited in the CRC-CSC Philippine Situationer show a decline in mental and
emotional wellbeing of children during the pandemic and the inability of children to
access mental and psychosocial support services.

Reports indicate that the country has recorded a 7% increase in births among girls
15 and below in 2019, compared to 2018.17 Executive Order No. 141 was issued in June
2021 declaring the prevention of teenage pregnancies as a national priority and
mandating the implementation of interventions such as comprehensive sexuality

10
Ibid.
11
Ibid.
12
Ibid.
13
PSA, Official Poverty Statistics among Basic Sectors
14
Ibid.
15
CSC-CRC, Philippine Child Situationer.
16
Save the Children Philippines, Ako at ang COVID 19.
17
https://www.cnnphilippines.com/news/2021/2/8/Teenage-pregnancy-cases-up-in-
Philippines.html

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education, education and employment opportunities for young people and health
promotions.18
About 1.8M children, or more than 1% of the country’s population, are abandoned
or neglected according to UNICEF.19 However, there remains a lack of comprehensive
and reliable data on children in private and government-managed residential care,
children without parental care, children in foster care, the situation of children in
alternative care and the short- and long-term effects of institutionalization.20

According to PSA, some 5M Filipinos remain unregistered, of which almost 40%

are children aged 0-14.21 Some of the reasons for non-registration are costs of
registration, living in remote areas, illiteracy of parents, and cultural norms among others.

In the education sector, incidence of school-related gender-based violence,

bullying and corporal punishment remain and children have no opportunity to participate
in school governance and development.22 Children experienced multiple difficulties
(limited online access, modular but lack sufficient guidance from parents/teachers)
during the pandemic with the shift to remote learning, resulting in depression and anxiety.

Participation Rights

The amendment of the Sangguniang Kabataan Law weakened representation of

children as it raised the age ranges of those who may be elected as SK officials from 15-
17 to 18-24 years old.23

Children were hardly consulted by the government during the pandemic. There is
lack of consultation that would have allowed a thorough assessment of children’s
specific needs and potential risks that they face including possible adverse impact on
children of school closures and other government responses to the pandemic. 24 During
the pandemic, engagement with children is limited to those with access to the internet
and with appropriate gadgets to engage online. This means that specific groups of
children – urban poor children, children in geographically isolated and disadvantaged
communities, children with disabilities - will likely miss out on opportunities to
participate.25

18
https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/downloads/2021/06jun/20210625-EO-141-RRD.pdf
19
https://www.latimes.com/world/asia/la-fg-philippines-orphans-adv-snap-
story.html#:~:text=The%20Philippines%20has%20an%20abandoned,Children's%20Rights%20%2
6%20Emergency%20Relief%20Organization.
20
CSC-CRC, Philippine Child Situationer.
21
https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/02/27/19/5-million-pinoys-without-birth-certificate-psa
22
CSC-CRC, Philippine Child Situationer.
23
Ibid
24
Ibid
25
Save the Children, Ako at ang COVID 19.

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 The promotion of empowering children and youth remains low as cultural barriers
still prevail in homes where parents do not recognize the evolving capacities of children
to participate in decision making concerning them.26

Others/Policy

Local government units are required to allocate at least 1% of their Internal

Revenue Allotment (IRA) to strengthening of LCPCs, which is crucial in ensuring the local
development and investment plans include a comprehensive package of intervention
programs for children in conflict with the law.27 However only 1/3 of LGUs have such
budget allocation. Pursuant to DILG Memorandum Circular 2021-039 (7 April 2021), LGUs
may increase this 1% and may likewise be charged against the 20% development fund of
LGUs to ensure that all plans for children are provided with funds and implemented 28
However, anecdotal reports from CSOs indicate the LCPC budgets and other budgets
earmarked for children (eg health, education) are not fully or properly utilized, with some
LGUs admitting that they do not know how to program these budgets. 29

b. Stakeholder and Gap Analysis

Protection Rights
Based on Consuelo’s 2020 country-wide environmental scan of the child protection
sector, there are significant resources from the US and The Netherlands that are focused
on addressing child labor, child labor trafficking, child trafficking, and online sexual
exploitation of children while funds from Australia seeks to combat online child UN
agencies such as UNFPA and UNICEF also have initiatives to address CP issues such as
child marriage and trafficking. In 2020, anti-child labor initiatives received the highest
funding support. Many networks and platforms engage at a national and regional level,
but demand for support at the local and grassroots NGO level is high with fewer
resources. 30

Provision Rights (Survival and Development)

As of 2019, DSWD operated 24 residential care facilities that provided services to youth
victims of trafficking and other forms of exploitation. 31 In 2016, 197 facilities for children

26
CSC-CRC, Philippine Child Situationer.
27
Ibid
28
https://www.dilg.gov.ph/PDF_File/issuances/memo_circulars/dilg-memocircular-
202148_6ae247eb95.pdf
29
CSC-CRC, Philippine Child Situationer.
30
Consuelo Foundation, 2020. Study on the Situation, Gaps and Opportunities in Child Protection Service
Delivery Systems in the Philippines.
31
Ibid.

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were run by 177 DSWD-licensed and accredited NGOs, most of which are run by religious
and missionary groups (Protacio-de Castro et al, n.d.). Even after accounting for new
facilities in recent years, these numbers illustrate a dearth of service providers across a
population with million upon millions of youth. Services are even more scarce for the
most marginalized, minorities such as indigenous people, LGBTQIA+, children in conflict
with the law and others.

As part of the recent discourse on deinstitutionalization, which is multi-faceted and

complex, DSWD’s current investment has been on enhancing the foster care system.
Currently, there are no standards for child-caring agencies to follow when it comes to
preparing their residents and/or receiving families and communities for integration back
into society. Furthermore, many of Consuelo’s shelter partners do not have solid
programs in place to equip youth in their transition from the shelter to their next home.

Participation Rights
Child participation is core principle of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child,
however, it remains elusive as a mainstreamed approach for youth programming. One of
the recommendations of the Situation Analysis of Children in the Philippines 32 in relation
to ensuring quality of services is to promote and facilitate child and youth participation in
the development of laws, policies and programs to ensure that they are responsive to
children’s needs.

Others/Policy
While many key children’s rights laws have been passed in the past 3 years 33,
important legislation still needs to be pushed in the coming 19th Congress. Some of these
are: Positive Discipline bill, Prevention of Adolescent Pregnancy bill, Comprehensive and
Responsive Civil Registration and Vital Statistics bill, Bangsamoro Children’s Code and
the Magna Carta for Children.34 Efforts to oppose the lowering of the minimum age of
criminal responsibility and to revive mandatory ROTC for high school students should
also be sustained.

There is a gap between policy and implementation. As noted in earlier sections,

the Philippines has several laws focused on children’s rights and welfare but gaps that
put children at risk remain. Implementation of laws such as the Juvenile Justice Welfare
Act remain poor. As noted in the Situational Analysis of Children in the Philippines, polices
and laws have remained largely “on paper” due to insufficient efforts to put the
necessary systems, financing and capacity for implementation.

32
National Economic and Development Authority and UNICEF Philippines, 2018
33
Prohibition of Child Marriage (RA 11596), Domestic Administrative Adoption (RA 11642),
Increasing the Age of Statutory Rape (RA 11648), Inclusive Education Act (RA 11650), OSAEC
law (enrolled copy for signature of Pres)
34
Based on CRN’s legislative agenda, 18th Congress

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 The need to assist LGUs remain crucial to strengthen and sustain the LCPCs as it
delivers its advocacy and programming efforts for children in need of special protection.
LCPCs are strategic mechanisms at the local level to ensure that children’s wellbeing
are included in local development and investment plans and to sustain advocacy and
capacity building efforts on the protection and promotion of wellbeing of children.

III. Consuelo’s 3 Year Advocacy Outcomes

a. Guiding Principles

Intricately linked to Consuelo’s culture of celebrating collaboration, the

overarching goal of our advocacy is to engage, inform and influence other advocates,
decision-makers and the public to change attitudes and behavior towards children and
their rights positively. Our systems change initiatives may result either in short-term
outcomes that make way for openings for social change such as convening
partners/coalitions, collaborations to promote research to practice approaches, and
creating greater public awareness of an issue or long-term outcomes such as a change
in policy or systems changes.

Our advocacy strategies are guided by the social-ecological framework, as

Consuelo recognizes that there is a dynamic inter-relation among individual, family,
community and societal factors that put children at risk or protect them from
experiencing abuse, neglect and exploitation. We believe that a multi-level approach
where we aim to foster societal attitudes that positively benefit children at all levels –
from the children and youth themselves, their relationships with families, to the
community and society – is the more effective and holistic framework for child protection.

Relationships built on trust, reciprocity and a commitment to improving systems

and services that facilitate healing and treatment as well as prevention of abuse and
neglect are vital for our advocacy efforts. We work side-by-side with its partners from
the government, academe and civil society sector to promote prevention of and care and
support to those negatively impacted by different forms of abuse and neglect. In
collaboration with our partners, we deliver quality programs and implement systems
change initiatives. We believe that that together we can do so much more.

At the heart of our work is children and the promotion, fulfillment, and protection
of their rights. We believe that children should be free from all forms of abuse, neglect
and exploitation. Consistent with the child rights-based approach, we recognize that
children are active holders of rights, and strive to respect and promote them at all costs.
We are guided by the four core principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child:
best interest of the child, non-discrimination, right to life, survival and development, and
respect for the views of the child.