The significant gains made in the children’s sector during the second half of 2000.

The end of 1990’s was highlighted by significant achievements in the advocacy for children’s rights. In the latter part of 2000, several important laws on children were passed and effective programs for the youth were continued. But while there have been notable improvements in the education, health and protection programs for children last year and the nine years before that, assessments on the current situation of Filipino children, especially those in difficult circumstances, have shown that efforts need to be strengthened to further uphold their survival, development and protection.

This article will shown the significant endeavors initiated to support the children’s sector from July to December 2000 and to present action plans pertaining to the promotion of the welfare and rights of Filipino children in the 21st century.

Legislation

Significant gains in the area of children’s legislation were achieved. For July to December 2000, three important bills benefiting millions of Filipino children were enacted by Congress.

The first of these was the Early Childhood Care Development Act (RA 8980 or ECCD Law) which was passed on October 16 2000. Under the ECCD Law, the government shall "institutionalize a National System for Early Childhood Care Development that is comprehensive, integrative and sustainable, and that involves multi-sectoral and inter-agency collaboration at the national and local levels." Furthermore, specific strategies will be adapted with regards to: the delivery of basic services for children aged 0 to 6; the educational of parents and caregivers; the active involvement of parents and communities in ECCD programs; raising awareness on the importance of ECCD; and the promotion of community development efforts that will improve the quality of life of children and their families.

The second was ILO 1182 or the International Labor Organization Convention on the Elimination of the Worst Form of Childhood Labor which was ratified, also on October 16, 2000. The convention seeks to end the worst form of child labor, including; child slavery and servitude, child trafficking, forced conscription of children in armed conflict, child prostitution and pornography, the use of children in crimes and drugs trafficking, and prevention, rescue and treatment of children involved in occupations that their safety, health and morals.

And the third is the Solo Parents Act (RA 8972) enacted on November 15, 2000. This law came about after government acknowledged the difficult situation single parents encounter in raising their children. The Department of Social Welfare and development (DSWD) and other agencies are mandated, under the Solo Parents Act, to develop a comprehensive package of benefits for single parents and their children. These benefits include tax breaks, housing benefits, heath and education benefits.

Advocacy and Programming for Children in Especially Difficult Circumstances

Various groups of children are placed in difficult circumstances and are in need of especial protection. These groups include streetchildren, children caught in situation of armed conflict, girl children, indigenous children, etc.

Streetchildren

During the latter part of 2000, the DSWD issued an order setting the guidelines for the National streetchildren program. These guidelines are mean to strengthen the government’s streetchildren program as well as those initiated by nongovernment organizations.

The national streetchildren program aims to remove children from the street, provide them and their families with adequate social services and protect their rights. It specifically aims to do this by providing streetchildren with foster homes were they can get emotional and physical support; educating them through scholarships; providing them with life skills in order to live decently, responsibly and productively; providing their families with livelihood assistance; and conducting parenting session to effect changes in family values.

Children in Situations of Armed Conflict

The increasing number of children involved in armed conflict has greatly alarmed children’s right advocate. An estimate by the Armed Forces of the Philippines has established that children comprise 13 percent of the total rebel population, and the major of casualties and captured elements during military and rebel encounters. Such a situation has pushed the government to draft the Framework for a Comprehensive Program for Children in Armed Conflict. This program has three components: prevention, advocacy, and mobilization, and rescue, recovery and reconciliation.

Prevention focuses on the delivery of basic services in areas of armed conflict. Such services include livelihood programs, healthcare and nutrition, educational assistance, food security, provision of basic facilities and infrastructure, and participation and capacity building.

Advocacy and mobilization engages the support of the community in protecting children from armed conflicts as well as in preventing their recruitment by armed groups.

Rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration employs strategies to help children caught in armed conflict reintegrate themselves in society. Counseling, security and protection, educational assistance and livelihood opportunities are some of the strategies. Moreover, a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) on the treatment and protection of rights of children caught in armed conflict was signed on March 21, 2000. The signatories included the Department of National Defense, Armed forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police, the DSWD, the Commission on Human Rights, the Department of Health, Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process and the National Program for Unification and Development Council.

Indigenous Youth

A youth festival with the theme "Sama-samang Paglalakbay Tungo sa Pagkakaisa sa Pagtataguyod at Pagtatamasa ng Karapatan ng Kabataang Katutubo," was held November 25 to 29 last year in Bukidnon.

Some 362 indigenous youth from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao participated. The festival aimed at aiding indigenous children draft program and policies protecting and promoting their rights. It did this by serving as a venue where indigenous children can express their dreams, views and feelings about the issues affecting their welfare. Youth coordinators were able to formulate a five-year plan as a result of the activity. The plan addressed issues relating to population, education, health livelihood, organization and capacity building.

Girl Children

Girl children currently face many problem: discrimination, sex role stereotyping, sexual abuse, teenage pregnancy, vulnerability to HIV/AIDS due to unprotected sex, limited access to leisure and rest sensational media coverage. Though various efforts have been initiated to help girl children, a systematic and organize approach needs to be develop to effectively respond to the need this group of children. The Medium-Term Strategic Development Framework for the Girl Child 2001-2004 was formulated to provide basic directions so that programs and services address the needs of girl children. The framework utilizes the "Life Cycle Approach providing the opportunity to prove deeper into the problems and needs of the girl child at critical stages, and allows a sequential/logical follow-through of her sights and responsibilities at each stage."

Participation

The first National Summit on children was held last October 27, 2000 in Malacañang. It was attended by children as well as by government agencies, local government units (LGU’s), industry leaders and nongovernment organizations.

The Summit aimed to providing a venue where children can express and discuss before various agencies their issues and concerns. It likewise aimed at formulating action plan to harness the potentials of the youth and to inspire them to work for the attainment of the nation’s goals.

Summit participants signed a declaration of commitment upholding the following actions:

•To advocate a paradigm shift to put CHILDREN FIRST in the use of the resources of the family and the community;
•To work towards increasing budgetary allocation at the local and national levels;
•To work towards institutional transformation including the development of educational, health care, justice and legislative systems responsive to the needs of children;
•To uphold the vision of the national poverty agenda;    To promote convergence of services through linkage;
•To promote holistic and integrated programs that strengthen the role of the family;
•To initiate local legislation that support child survival, development, protection and participation; and
•To work actively together to translate all agreements into concrete actions.

Plans for the next century

In this new millennium, the government together with the private sector, is painstakingly working to develop new strategies and action plans to promote the welfare and rights the Filipino children. A new framework on which all action plans and strategies relating to children will be anchored was enacted last October 26, 2000. This framework is called the Philippine National Strategic Frameworks for plan Development for Children, 2000-2025 or Child 21. It was developed to build upon the gains of the Philippine Plan of action of children (PPAC) drafted in the 1990s.

Child 21’s vision is of each Filipino child as:

•born healthy, with an inherent right to life and endowed with human dignity;
•happy, loved and nurtured by a strong, stable and God-loving family; living in a peaceful, progressive, gender-fair and child-friendly society;
growing safe in a healthy environment and ecology;
•free and protected by a responsive and enabling government;    reaching his/her full potential with the opportunities and accessible resources;
•imbued with Filipino values steeped in indigenous cultural heritage;    assertive of his/her right as well as those of others;
•and actively participating in decision-making and governance in harmony and in solidarity with others in sustaining the Filipino nation.

The vision shrine in Child 21 serves as our guide in promoting the welfare and protecting the rights of our children. The framework and action plans have been drafted, but we are now challenged to turn these action plans into reality so we can improve the situation of Filipino children in the 21st century.

Published in Intersect magazine, pp. 17-20, Vol. 16 no.1, January 2001.