News That May Have Gone Unnoticed: End the Worst Forms of Child Labour in the Philippines: A Public Forum

Mamapasano, a village in Maguindanao in the Philippines, has been a common subject in posts on social sites as well as blogs. The recent massacre of Philippine law enforcers has captured most of the news outlets. Unfortunately, something very important may have not received the attention it warrants. A forum that has already been postponed because of a typhoon a month ago was held this week. Unfortunately, even the websites of the organizations presenting in this forum have been obliterated by hackers to deliver a message pertaining to the violent incident in Mamapasano. One of these sites still bear to this date a warning on Google:

  1. Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research ...

    www.eiler.ph/
    The Official Website of EILER, a labor education and research institute in the ... kids trapped in child labor –EU ambassador http://t.co/4HOw8PEmv9Wednesday, ...
  2. What was the forum about? It was about the present situation of child labor in the Philippines:

Above copied from Bata Balik-Eskwela
I have already seen two articles regarding this forum. This one is from Rappler:

Above copied from Rappler


As seen on the side, 100% of those who registered their mood after reading the article was angry. The other post I have seen is actually an editorial from the Inquirer:


Yes, this is old news. And it is sad that millions of children in the Philippines still work even in hazardous conditions instead of being educated in classrooms. The number of child laborers is huge. In 2012, the Philippines was ranked as among countries with "extreme supply chain risk" of child labor by Maplecroft:

Copied from Maplecroft

With 5.5 million child laborers in the Philippines, this number accounts for more than 3 percent of child laborers in the entire globe. Worse, nearly 3 million of these young workers face daily hazardous conditions. Child labor and poverty are among the greatest ills Philippine basic education faces. Do we even notice?






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