Bishop appeals for end of child labor

A Catholic bishop has called for a renewed and united effort against child labor as the country has 2.1 million children engaged in different forms of work.

Bishop Roberto Mallari of San Jose said the church and society are called to eradicate the root causes of “this sad reality”.

“The root of this sad reality is poverty and lack of livelihood options which leads the child to contribute to the family income,” Mallari said.

“The situation of the suffering children and those who are deprived of their rights and dignity leave a great challenge to us as a church and as a society,” he said.

The prelate said that the abuse of children for labor, many of which are hazardous, deprives them of their fundamental rights and exposes them to dangers.

Eliminating child labor still remains a big challenge for the Philippines as poor families send their children out to work to make ends meet.

The government said it aims to reduce the cases of child labor by 30 percent or 630,000 by 2022.

As of last June, the labor department has already profiled a total of 85,582 child laborers nationwide.

Bishop Mallari stressed that children have the right to basic necessities of life, “which unfortunately the family and society cannot provide”.

“God entrusted to us His beloved children. Ours is a task of taking care of them and be with them in their values formation,” he said.