AMID the observance of 'World Day Against Child Labor' on Saturday, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian called on the National Council Against Child Labor to accelerate efforts to rescue and protect the country's child laborers from exploitation and abuse.

Gatchalian said both the United Nations Children's Fund or Unicef and the International Labor Organization warned last year that the Covid-19 pandemic threatens to reverse the global decline in child labor.

He said the two agencies cited patterns in countries like Brazil, Guatemala, India, Mexico and Tanzania, where parental unemployment due to economic shocks led to children stepping in to provide temporary support.

The senator added that the April 2021 Labor Force Survey shows that following the surge of Covid-19 infections and the imposition of stricter quarantine measures in NCR Plus as about 4.14 million Filipinos were left jobless in April, higher than the 3.44 million recorded in March.

Gatchalian observed that while the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) had yet to receive the latest official data on the number of young Filipinos engaged in child labor, it cited the 2011 Survey on Children that the number of those aged 5 to 17 engaged in child labor was estimated at 2.097 million, of whom 2.049 million were in hazardous child labor.

He said DoLE was targeting to free 30 percent of these children from illegal labor as part of the Philippine Development Plan for 2017-2022.

Meanwhile, the Labor department said the worst forms of child labor include the sale and trafficking of children, child pornography, and the use of children in illegal activities such as the production and trafficking of dangerous drugs.

'Children should be in school, and they should not be compelled to work, where they can be victims of abuse. They are the ones experiencing the worst damages brought by Covid-19 and one of the dangers they are facing is of becoming child laborers,' said Gatchalian, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, Arts and Culture.

Last year, Gatchalian filed Senate Bill (SB) 1794, which strengthened Republic Act (RA) 9208 (Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003) as amended by RA 10364 (Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012).

The proposed measure provides that in cases involving child trafficking, regional trial courts can authorize law enforcers to conduct surveillance and record communication and information involving persons charged with or suspected of trafficking.

It also mandates responsibilities on internet service providers (ISPs) and tourism-oriented establishments to report and prevent cases of trafficking.

One responsibility of ISPs is to block and filter access to any form of child pornography. Tourism-oriented establishments, on the other hand, will be mandated to train their staff to recognize and report signs of human trafficking crimes, Gatchalian said.