Elimination of child labour

Towards a Child Labour-Free Philippines: Supporting the Philippine Programme Against Chilld Labour in Building on Past Gains and Addressing Challenges

The International Labour Organization (ILO) works with local partners to combat child labour in the country through a US Government-funded project that looks at improving information management, consolidating partnerships, developing models and sustaining efforts to withdraw and prevent children from working.

According to the National Statistics Office (NSO) 2001 Survey on Children, there are about 4.18 million working children aged 5-7 years, which is 16.2 per cent of the total population of children within the same age group. Meanwhile, 60 per cent or 2.4 million of the children are exposed to hazardous working conditions.


Child labour remains prevalent in the Philippines, a clear manifestation of poverty. Given the significant number of child labourers, the ILO works with local partners in combating child labour in the country through a US Government-funded programme, the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC).

In 2009, the ILO and the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) forged partnership through the IPEC Time Bound Project Phase 2 called “Towards a Child Labour Free Philippines”. The project provides the vision of a child labour-free Philippines by building on past gains and addressing continuing challenges. Four demonstration provinces were identified for the programme: Northern Samar, Quezon Province, Bukidnon, and Masbate. The ILO-IPEC aims to improve the knowledge system on child labour while strengthening partnership with local partners and promoting sustainability of the programme.

The Philippine government has expressed its commitment to fight child labour through the goal of the Philippine Programme Against Child Labour (PPACL), which aims to reduce the worst form of child labour by 75 per cent by 2015. The ILO, through IPEC, supports national efforts in achieving the PPACL goal. The Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) issued a formulation of local legislation to address child labour and integration of anti-child labour initiatives in the local development plans and programmes.

For further information please contact:

ILO Country Office for the Philippines (CO-Manila)
19th Floor, Yuchengco Tower
RCBC Plaza, 6819 Ayala Avenue
1200 Makati City, Philippines
Tel. +632 8580 9900
Fax +632 8856 7597
Email