'Batang Carabao' child labor is OK if parents approve—DSWD

BUTUAN CITY—No less than the head of the regional office of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) in the Caraga Region has said that "batang carabao" child labor is okay if one or both parents approve of it, regardless of the child's age. During a press conference at the 15th DSWD-Caraga founding anniversary, DSWD Regional Director Mercedita Jabagat told newsmen that, based on their experience with minors, it is "justified" if one of the parents is with the child. Jabagat admitted that sometime in 2008, two minors were rescued in San Francisco, Agusan del Sur, by a Tacloban City-based NGO, S.O.S., after they were found to have been put to work hauling cut logs in one of the hinterland areas of said municipality. 'Justified' when a parent is there “Actually based on our experience for those minors engaged in any labor, it is justified when the father says I am on his side basta naa ang mama ok lang (It's justified when the father says he is on the child's side and the mother is there with the child)," said Jabagat. During the press conference, a DSWD female staffmember claimed that the two brothers, both minors, were brought to Tacloban City after NGO S.O.S found them engaged in actual child labor, hauling cut logs four times their size. The DSWD female staffer, who claimed to be in charge of issues of child labor at the DSWD regional office, admitted that she received initial reports about minors in the Caraga Region used as substitutes for Carabaos in hauling logs in hinterland areas. However, she said that their office has not yet acted on the reports pending evidence. She also urged reporters and the public to bring any evidence of child abuse to the the DSWD office . Indigenous minors being employed -NGO report The NGO S.O.S. recently came out with a report detailing how minors are being employed in lieu of carabaos to haul cut logs in the hinterland areas of the Caraga Region and some parts of Misamis Oriental, particularly in the area of Gingoog City. The report said that minors as young as eight to fourteen years old even skip classes to haul logs and are being paid P20.00 for each log hauled. Already, public school teachers in elementary schools in the said areas are complaining that most of their male students are frequently absent or cut class because they are lured by the promise of immediate income from hauling logs. “The children's learning has already been greatly affected, with some repeating a grade and some having stoped going to school altogether for a full-time job at towing cut logs," the report added. The report also also showed rampant use of minors in mineral-rich areas of the Caraga Region, where minors aging 8 to 14 years old are being employed to haul sacks of soil and rocks. The regional office of the National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) in Gingoog City also recently came out with a four-page report confirming the employment of tribal kids to haul cut wood in the area. DENR, local govt prepare joint policies The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) field office in Gingoog City is working closely together with the local government in preparing joint policies to stop loggers and wood traders operating in the hinterland areas from employing minors in all logging activities. Community Environment and Natural Resources Officer Felipe Callorina of the DENR field office said that he is now requiring all wood traders to sign a sworn agreement that they will not use minors in their logging activities, adding that those found violating the agreement will have their transport permits cancelled. “ Using minors in doing odd jobs like carrying huge logs thrice or four times, is not acceptable because these children are supposed to be in schools not working as 'Carabaos'," Callorina concluded. - TJD, GMANews.TV