Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) Region 7 Director Elias Cayanong said his office is currently working with partner agencies in the government and private sectors as well as non-government and people’s organizations in the efforts to improve the lives of working children and encourage them to go back to school.

Education is one of the very basic right of every child, and that they should not be deprived of it.

Although poverty is the main factor that forces children under 18 years of age to work even in harmful circumstances, this is not an excuse for parents or those who hire minors to allow the kids to work in conditions that places their health and lives at risk, Cayanong said.

The DoLE 7 chief cited seven areas that have been identified as hazardous conditions for working children which government strictly does not allow. These sectors include agriculture, mining, pyrotechnics, entertainment, deepsea fishing, and domestic work.

Agriculture remains to be the top sector where majority of the minors are seen toiling in plantations, harvesting crops and spraying chemical pesticides on fields particularly in the sugar industry, Cayanong noted.

Based on a 2003 report from the National Statistics Office, over 50 percent of working children in the Philippines is in the broad-based agri-sector accounting to about 2.1 Filipino children.

Cayanong revealed there are 2.4M Filipino minors working in the mentioned hazardous sectors while the data is gleaned last 2001 yet. Out of the figure, Central Visayas accounts to about 388T working minors.

The figure for Central Visayas, however, has been challenged by some sectors as even the DoLE 7 official registry only accounted for about 26,800 child laborers, the regional director said.