In June this year, a group of young ladies was recognized for their actions that led to the arrest of a child molester who turned out to be the chess and damath coach of the student-victim. This and 127 more cases of sexual abuse have been haunting amongst most the vulnerable sector of society – our children.
At a glance
A 2015 National Baseline Survey on Violence Against Children conducted by the Council for the Welfare of Children and UNICEF Philippines shows that around 80% of Filipinos have experienced physical, psychological, sexual, and online violence during childhood. Of these cases, most have not been reported.
In the Cordillera, the Police Regional Office reported that 285 cases of crime incidents were committed against minors from January to October 2019.
Rape topped the list with 98 cases followed by child abuse and acts of lasciviousness with 97 and 29 recorded cases, respectively. Cordillera police identified the high percentage of minors as victims of rape.
Around 42% of the rape victims for the period of 2016 to September 2019 are minors aged 13-18 years old while 38% are aged 0-12 years old.
The Department of Labor and Employment also verified around 1, 927 child laborers or children at risk in the region in 2018.
Local Council for the Protection of Children
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Council for the Protection of Children, and the Child and Youth Welfare Code are among the systems and mechanisms that guarantee the rights of every child in the country are upheld.
Further strengthening efforts to secure children’s welfare in communities, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) released revised guidelines on organizing Local Councils for the Protection of Children (LCPC) at the provincial, city, municipal, and barangay level.
The LCPC is responsible for the implementation of the National Strategic Framework for Plan Development for Children in the local level. The LCPC partners with the local government units (LGUs) to craft plans, programs, and activities to create secure, healthy, and child-friendly communities.
A functional LCPC plays a vital role in strengthening child protection especially in the grassroots.
Although organized, LCPCs are still categorized based on their functionality or effectiveness and efficiency in delivering services for the welfare of children.
The functionality of LCPCs is evaluated based on the following: the organization of the council; regular meetings conducted; issuances of policies, plans, and budgets, and accomplishments.
LCPCs with basic functionality are councils with scores 20% and below of the total functionality indicators. Progressive LCPCs have scores of 21-50%, mature with 51-79%, and ideal with total scores of 80-100% in the functionality indicators.
As of May 2019, of the 1, 169 LCPCs in the Cordillera, 212 are ideal, 616 are mature, 280 are progressive, and 61 are at the basic level.
Ideal local child protection councils have quarterly meetings, approved plan with more than 1% budget of the LCPC, available accomplishment report from the previous year, and updated local code for children disseminated to stakeholders.
Towards child-friendly communities
“It takes a village to raise a child.”
Strengthening child protection cuts across all sectors much more with challenges on changing local chief executives and composition of local child protection council after elections and the limited capacity of barangay and staff.
With improvements on facilities for better child welfare and proposal for LGUs to have licensed social workers, the government continues to advocate for communities that uphold the rights and welfare of every child.**JDP/JJPM-PIA CAR
