PAGADIAN CITY, ZDS – The Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office 9 through its Zamboanga del Sur Field Office held a culmination activity to signal the close of Child Labor Profiling activities in the province on December 6, 2019 in Pagadian City.

DOLE 9 Regional Director Ofelia B. Domingo said that the Child Labor Profiling activity forms part of DOLE’s mandate to eliminate the prevalence of Child Labor in the country through referrals and provision of assistance to families affected.

She further added that it is also an avenue for convergence of services as various national government agencies put forward programs and services to assist the children affected and their parents.

DOLE-ZDSFO Chief Camilo Encila Jr reported to Director Domingo that 155 child laborers were assisted by the Department of Education – 133 were enrolled to Alternative Learning System and 22 for Formal Education.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) provided 30 parents of child laborers with business seminars.

Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) enrolled 157 families to the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program and provided educational assistance to 151 children.

Meanwhile, the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) equipped 22 beneficiaries with training on Cookery. DOLE, on the other hand, provided livelihood to 36 parents of child laborers.

Representatives from the Congressional Office, Provincial Government Office, Government Internship Program beneficiaries and PESO Managers were in attendance.

The Labor department, as the lead agency in the implementation of the Philippine Program against Child Labor and as the chairman of the National Child Labor Committee
will be responsible for monitoring and reporting if a child has already been removed from child labor.

These initiatives are aligned with the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, which targets to reduce the cases of child labor by 30 percent or 630,000 from the estimated 2.1 million child laborers nationwide. END/ With reports from DOLE Zamboanga Del Sur Field Office