CHILD LABORERS. Demi Fuentespina (center), the focal person of the Strategic Helpdesks for Information, Education, Livelihood and Other Development Intervention (SHIELD) assists parents of child laborers in Antique during the release of the educational assistance in the capital town of San Jose de Buenavista, Antique province on June 7, 2023. Fuentespina said in an interview Tuesday (June 27) that more child laborers in the province will be identified once the SHIELD project is institutionalized. (PNA photo by Annabel Consuelo J. Petinglay)
SAN JOSE DE BUENAVISTA, Antique – The Sangguniang Panlalawigan (Provincial Board) of Antique would institutionalize the Strategic Helpdesks for Information, Education, Livelihood and Other Development Intervention (SHIELD) project that aims to withdraw children from the worst forms of child labor by providing holistic and immediate interventions at the community level.
The call was made through a resolution authored by Vice Governor Edgar Denosta during their regular session on Monday addressed to Governor Rhodora Cadiao.
The vice governor in a follow-up interview on Tuesday said the institutionalization requires funds for the conduct of symposia to raise public awareness on the protection of children’s rights and other activities that will be undertaken by the Provincial Social Welfare and Development Office (PSWDO).
Among the objectives of the project are to eliminate child labor; identify child laborers in the community and ensure evidence-based case management through an operational Child Labor Local Registry (CLLR) System; improve access of child laborers and their families to appropriate services; and raise awareness and capacities of child laborers, their families and duty-bearers in addressing child labor.
The SHIELD project was piloted in the municipalities of Hamtic, Valderrama, Sibalom, Tobias Fornier, Barbaza and Laua-an in 2019.
During the initial rollout, 100 child laborers or children below 15 years old engaging as farmhands, sugar migrants, or house helpers were profiled.
The children preferred work to augment the meager income of their parents rather than stay in school due to the family’s financial condition.
They received the first tranche of their annual cash aid this month amounting to PHP3,000 each while the second tranche will be released in September.
“With the institutionalization of the SHIELD, the project will not only cover the six municipalities of Antique but the entire 18 towns,” said Demi Fuentespina, the project focal person of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) Regional Office 6, in a separate interview on Tuesday.
Fuentespina added that they will roll out the CLLR System in September this year to have a database of child laborers in the province.
In addition to having a database, the registry will also enable the DSWD to determine the assistance provided to child laborers and further interventions that they need. (PNA)
