DOLE steps up measures to curb high incidence of child labor in Bicol

LEGAZPI CITY, Dec. 17 (PIA) --The Department of Labor and Employment in the Bicol region (DOLE-5) is stepping up effort to reduce the high incidence of child labor in the region

There are some 300,000 child laborers in the region, according to the latest survey by the National Statistics Office (NSO).

The DOLE-5 targets to reduce this by 75 percent, or 228,000 within four years starting 2013, Raymond Escalanate, DOLE public informatio officer said. “We are taking the results very seriously and we’re doubling our efforts and advocacy to cut down the high incidence of child labor in our region," he said.

The move is in accordance with the Philippine Program Against Child Labor’s national target of 70 percent in the eradication and prevention of child labor in the country by 2016.

Escalante, however, said that the figures need to be verified. "It’s possible that these children are simply helping their parents and are not to be considered as child laborers," he said. (MAL/SAA-PIA5/Albay)