Local government units are directed to allot one percent of their Internal Revenue Allotment for programs and projects to combat child labor through their Local Councils for the Protection Children, Undersecretary Austere Panadero of the Department of Interior and Local Government, said yesterday.

Panadero, who spoke at the national conference for the protection and development of children in the sugar industry at L'Fisher Hotel in Bacolod City, said the directive was made through a memorandum circular issued on July 4, as required by Republic Act 9344 or the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act of 2006.

Panadero said the order is timely because budget hearings for 2013 have just started, and LGUs have to include it in their annual investment plans and make sure that the LCPC have lined up programs for the protection of children.

He also assured that LGUs will be monitored in the implementation of the program and the utilization of the one percent of their IRA through their financial reports and statement of receipts and expenditures.

The memorandum also states that LGUs are encouraged to engage and partner with private organizations and other entities that provide financial assistance.

The 2011 National Statistics Office Survey on Children shows that Western Visayas has the third highest number of child laborers in the country.

Panadero, who is also a Negrense, said that Negros Occidental may top the list among the provinces in Western Visayas on child labor issues, but mostly it involves migratory workers.

He said not all children are from Negros, some of them are from Panay Island and from other provinces in the Visayas.

Sugarcane workers come to the province during the planting season, and some of them stay while others return to their places, he added.

Regional director Ponciano Ligutom of the Department of Labor and Employment 6 also said they are conducting inspections of sugar farms and other businesses to put a stop to child labor.

DOLE has the child labor free barangay program where they work with other agencies and come up with policies and programs that will support families and parents, he said.

Ligutom said a developmental and socio-economic approach is more appropriate to address the problems of child labor rather than taking legal action or coming up with mere policies.

“If there is improvement in the lives of the people, then definitely, we will be able to take away children laboring in farms,” Ligutom added.

Department of Social Welfare and Development regional director Minda Brigoli also said that the implementation of the conditional cash transfer is very relevant in minimizing, if not eradicating, child labor because children enrolled in the program are closely monitored.

CCT is directly making sure that children beneficiaries are not working in hazardous and exploitative conditions as child laborers in the sugar industry, Brigoli said.

Through the program, about 141,000 children from 87,000 households in Negros Occidental receive monthly allowance and cash grants though they still have to identify who among them are children of farm workers, she added.*LTG

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