ALCALA—The three children of Eduardo Nueva, a tobacco farmer in this town, have enjoyed their right to education with the first two earning a nursing and criminology degree while the third is now pursuing a degree in agriculture at the Pangasinan State University.

The Nueva family is among the beneficiaries of the Eliminating Child Labor in the Tobacco Industry (ECLTI) launched here in 2004, a program carried out by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) through a P5-million grant from the Tobacco Growing Foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland.

The ECLTI program provides children an opportunity to go to school while the parents are provided with assistance for livestock production.

“The project is good as it not only helps send children to school but at the same time provides livelihood opportunities to parents. The programs jibed with each other,” said Mayor Manuel Collado as he thanked DOLE, the Department of Social Welfare and Development and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) for their collaborative effort.

All the 21 barangays in Alcala have also been declared child labor-free and the town has been chosen as the site for the launching of a nation-wide campaign for Child Labor-Free Barangays by DOLE.

At the launching ceremony last September 3, Lourdes Trasmonte, DOLE Undersecretary for Labor Standards and Protection, congratulated Collado and the barangay officials for making the vision for child labor-free barangays possible.

As of June this year, there were 2.9 million child laborers in hazardous situation nationwide, majority in agriculture, according to Trasmonte.

“They should be in schools or enjoy playing and not working at a young age,” she said.

COMMITMENT

As part of Alcala’s commitment, Liga ng mga Barangay Chairman Filomino Racpan presented a resolution signed by the town’s 21 barangay chairmen to Trasmonte pledging their support in  preventing and eliminating child labor in their communities.

A recent survey of the Bureau of Statistics ranked Alcala as one of the towns with the least incidence of poverty.

Aside from Alcala town, the program is also piloted in other towns in the region including Bolaoan in La Union, San Emilio and San Juan in Ilocos Sur, and Pinili in Ilocos Norte.— PIA-Pangasinan/VHS and Eva Visperas

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