“CONSIDERING misguided and abused nine-year old children as criminals, will only worsen child labor cases in the Philippines,” said Julius Cainglet, chairperson of the advocacy committee of the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC).
Cainglet is reacting to the passage in Congress of a bill lowering the minimum age for criminal liability.
Involving children in criminal or illicit activities is one of the worst forms of child labor.
“Our present laws clearly point to the children’s parents, guardians and most especially criminal syndicates who victimize children, as accountable for illegal or illicit activities that involve children,” said Cainglet, who is also the vice president of the Federation of Free Workers (FFW).
Prohibition against the “worst forms of child labor under RA 9231 Section 12-D indicates that:
“No child shall be engaged in the worst forms of child labor. The phrase "worst forms of child labor" shall refer to any of the following:
“...(3) The use, procuring or offering of a child for illegal or illicit activities, including the production and trafficking of dangerous drugs and volatile substances prohibited under existing laws.”
“Masterminds would easily escape criminal liability by laying the blame on innocent children, who are incapable of resisting and evading arrest, nor easy access to legal defense,” Cainglet said. “This will artificially increase the incidence of child labor.”
“At age nine, a child has had no chemistry subjects, thus would be unable to mix components to create an illegal substance. A child would have no access to the same, unless led into the lion’s den by abusive adults,” Cainglet explained.
“To think that we have just celebrated the Feast of the Sto. Nino last Sunday,” Cainglet said. The Catholic feast celebrates the childhood of Jesus Christ, unique to the Filipino Catholic faithful and recognized by the Vatican.
Philippine laws call for the protection of children and in case of abuse, their rehabilitation and reintegration to mainstream society. Section 1 of RA 9231 states that:
"It shall be the policy of the State to protect and rehabilitate children gravely threatened or endangered by circumstances which affect or will affect their survival and normal development and over which they have no control.
“We should not punish our own children for society’s failure to care for, guide and bring up the child in the way the child should go,” Cainglet said.
Under the #1MBatangMalaya campaign, the Philippines has vowed to remove one million children from child labor by 2025. There are two million children engaged in child labor.
“This would be a major setback for our internationally renowned efforts at ending child labor. It goes against our desire to amend child labor laws aimed at strengthening the NCLC towards providing more love, care and protection for our children,” Cainglet added.
Julius Cainglet, vice president of Federation of Free Workers