About IPEC - Philippines

BASIC FACTS ON PHILIPPINES1 Demography Total population (millions) 85.2 (2005)2 Population under age 15 (as % of total) 35.0 (2005)3 Life Expectancy at birth (years) 70.8 (2004)3 Education & Health Youth literacy rate (% age 15 - 24) 95.1 (2003) Combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio (%) 82.0 (2002-03) Public Expenditure on education (as % of GDP) 3.1 (2000-02) Public Health Expenditure (as % of GDP) 1.1 (2002) Human development index (HDI) The HDI is a summary of human development (long and healthy life, knowledge,decent standard of living) 0.758 (2003)4 Economy GDP per capita (PPP US$) 4,321 (2003) ODA received (as % of GDP) 0.9 (2003)

Child Labor Situation

A comprehensive picture of the child labor situation in the Philippines can be sketched using the wealth of information contained in the Survey on Children (SOC) administered by the National Statistics Office (NSO) first in 1994-1995, and followed in 2000-2001. According to the 2001 SOC, there are about 4 million working boys and girls (between the ages of 5-17) in the country, about 2.4 million of whom are engaged in hazardous forms of labor. It also shows that 50 percent of the total number of working children is between 5 and 14 years; and the median age is 10 years (i.e., 50% of the working children are aged 10 years and below).

Information on the child labor situation in the country may also be obtained from two other official sources: the Labor Force Survey (LFS) and the Annual Poverty Indicators Survey (APIS). Like the SOC, the National Statistics Office (NSO) conducts the LFS and APIS. In view of the need to have a regular source of information on working boys and girls, which could provide selected statistics, the NSO expanded the coverage of the quarterly LFS in 2003 to include those aged 5-14 years old and included selected indicators on education. Compared to the SOC, the LFS data revealed a substantially lower number of working children due to the use of “past week” reference period, i.e., interviewees were asked whether they worked during the past 7 seven days prior to the conduct of the survey.

In October 2004, LFS revealed that 2.116 million children – or 9.1 percent of the total 25.210 million children aged 5 to 17 years – were working. This reflects a decline by 0.7 percent from 2.226 million over the same period in 2003. Children aged 15 to 17 years were more likely to be employed than younger groups. More boys than girls were in work. However, a greater proportion of girls worked more than eight hours a day. Nearly 60% of working children were employed in agriculture, hunting and forestry. More than half of working children were unpaid.

Meanwhile, the APIS provides information relating child labor with poverty levels. The 2004 APIS underscored that poor families (lowest 30% of income strata) are more likely to have working children 5 to 17 years old with 23 percent compared to 8 percent among the non-poor families (higher 70% of income strata). It was noted that the incidence of working children increased from 20.7 percent of families within the 30 percent income stratum in 2002 to 23.1 percent in 2004.

The ILO-IPEC Response

IPEC-Philippines formally started with the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Government of the Philippines and the ILO on 22 June 1994. The MoU was first extended on 23 December 1996; and the second one on 28 January 2002, being effective until 31 December 2006.

The ILO-IPEC Project in support of the PTBP is the first and most significant contribution toward the elimination of the WFCL. It has been designed to leverage resources, and to link up with national and international programs for the benefit of Filipino boys and girls.

Overview Of Ongoing ILO-IPEC Projects In The Philippines

• PROJECT TITLE: Supporting the Time-Bound Programme on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour in the Republic of the Philippines
• TIME FRAME: 30 September 2002 to 31 December 2006, extended to 30 August 2007
• PROJECT BUDGET: US$ 5,199,198
• DONOR: US Department of Labor
• GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE: National level and selected provinces in Regions III (Bulacan), V (Camarines Norte), VI (Iloilo and Negros Occidental), VII (Negros Oriental and Cebu), XI (Davao), and the National Capital Region (Metro Manila)
• OBJECTIVES: At the end of the Project, there is (1) an enhanced knowledge base for policy development and implementation in the Philippines; (2) an enhanced and better enforced legislative framework; (3) national development and social policies include child labor concerns; (4), an enhanced education and training policies can effectively respond to the needs of girls and boys in child labor and to children at risk (5) attitudes towards child labor have changed among partner agencies; (6) the capacity of local government and civil society to monitor and manage action against the WFCL will be strengthened; (7) families affected by WFCL will have been provided with new opportunities for enhanced income and access to social safety nets; (8) children at risk and in the WFCL will have access to primary, vocational or non-formal education, including alternative and flexible learning systems; and (9) all major local-level actors and institutions have become aware of the problem of the WFCL and are mobilized in the battle against it.
• NOTABLE FEATURE: The Project covers 6 WFCL sectors (child domestic work; children in prostitution; deep sea fishing; sugar cane plantations; fireworks; and mining and quarrying) in 8 geographical areas. The project has been instrumental in the enactment of Republic Act No. 9231, which concretizes and puts into effect the national policy to immediately address the WFCL in the country.

• PROJECT TITLE: Prevention and Reintegration of Children Involved in Armed Conflict: An Inter-Regional Project
• GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE:
  • Core Countries: Central Africa: Burundi, Republic of Congo, Docratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
  • Outside Africa:Colombia, Philippines, and Sri Lanka
  • Non-core Countries: Cote d’Ivoire, Uganda, Liberia and Sierra Leone
• TIME FRAME: 30 November 2003 - 31 December 2006
• PROJECT BUDGET: (Philippine Component) US$ 222,872.85
• DONOR: US Department of Labor
• GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE (National): Mindanao Island; Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao
• OBJECTIVES:At the end of the Programme, (1) The enabling environment for ensuring that children are not affected by armed conflict will have been strengthened; (2) The entry of children into armed conflict will have been prevented; and (3) Children withdrawn from and traumatized by armed conflict will have been reintegrated into the mainstream of society.

• PROJECT TITLE: APEC Awareness Raising Campaign: Eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labour and Providing Educational Opportunities
• GEOGRAPHICAL COVERAGE: Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
• TIME FRAME: 2004 – 2006
• PROJECT BUDGET: (Philippine Component) US$ 64,692
• DONOR: US Department of Labor

This innovative project encourages Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation member countries to use education to combat child labor as a part of their overall growth and economic development strategy. Based on the positive experiences from Phase I, a second phase was launched in 2004. The focus is on strengthening the regional alliance and mobilizing key parties to initiate relevant activities that use basic education and skills development to combat child labor.

• Note 1 - Human Development Report, UNDP, 2005
• Note 2 - National Statistics Office
• Note 3 - National Statistics Office
• Note 4 - Development Indicators Database, World Bank, April 2006