NPACL partners tackle working children in drugs
by Joselito D. Manabat

Volume V, Number I, June 2005 Issue

The issue of working children in drugs is being pushed for mainstreaming into the National Program Against Child Labor.  During a meeting held recently at the ILO Auditorium in Makati City, a network of NPACL partners, called informally as “barkadahan” outlined concrete plans of action to address this phenomenon, considered a worst form of child labor. 

DOLE Undersecretary Josephus Jimenez, in taking the lead role on the campaign, volunteered to be the “bridge” between the “solution,” referring to resources which could support initiatives like the Personnel Management Association of the Philippines and the academe, and the “problem,” referring to children in drugs.  Usec. Jimenez proposed to conduct awareness-raising activities in schools like essay writing or poster making contests.

The Occupational Safety and Health Center will integrate children in drug trafficking in occupational safety and health agenda and participate in the formulation of the IRR of Republic Act 9258 concerning professionalizing guidance and counseling, while the Institute for Labor Studies will conduct research, as well as information dissemination, on working children in drugs.  The Bureau of Women and Young Workers will work for the institutionalization of this concern, ensuring that this issue will be taken up during the National Child Labor Committee meeting and in the sub-groups.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) will continue its existing protective services for children through the maintenance of their drug rehabilitation centers, center for street children involved in substance abuse, and through the development of appropriate programs and services.  The Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) will strengthen structures at the regional and local levels where concerns of child labor are being discussed.  CWC acts as the lead agency in lobbying for the passage of the Juvenile Justice bill.  The issue of children in drugs is interrelated with the concern on children in conflict with the law and subsequently, the juvenile justice system.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) and the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) on their part, will include this concern in their respective child labor programs.  Some community-based organizations and non-governmental organizations, like Kapatiran Komunidad People’s Coalition, Addictus, Families and Children for Empowerment and Development, and Children’s Lab are also initiating actions to help working children in drugs, especially in advocacy and social mobilization, and in capacity building activities.

Dr. Emma Porio of Ateneo, who conducted a research on children in drugs, intends to make further studies on this matter.  Dr. Porio also volunteered to serve as resource person in symposia and in other awareness raising activities.  The International Labour Organization – International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labor (ILO-IPEC) likewise expressed its all-out support, and will publish Dr. Porio’s report on children in drugs.

The “barkadahan” hopes that this initial step will go a long way in eliminating this worst form of child labor – the involvement of children in drugs.