Alcala’s tobacco industry is child-labor free
ALCALA–The tobacco industry here has finally rid itself of the recurring and nagging child-labor problems.
Thus said Mayor Manuel Collado after announcing that the programs his administration instituted with help from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), to address the problem have been effectively implemented.
Editha Corpuz, the municipal social welfare and development officer and focal person for the elimination of child-labor in the tobacco industry, said child-labor was a serious problem then as parents were “unaware” that their children were being forced to do odd jobs in tobacco farming.
A Geneva-based foundation involved in eliminating child-labor in tobacco growing, had a tie up with DOLE and identified this town and four others in tobacco-producing areas in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur and La Union as pilot for the program, Corpuz said.
Based on the data from the National Tobacco Administration, more than 200 families in the town are involved in tobacco growing.
The children, as young as seven to eight years old, have been seen to be engaged in their respective families’ livelihood planting, watering, harvesting, and classifying burley tobacco.
“It became a family undertaking but the sad thing is these children sometimes are made to skip their classes to help their families,” Corpuz pointed out.
The program involved an intensive information and education campaign about the hazards of involving the children in this industry.
The first phase project of the project implemented in 2005-2006 involved about 17 children with educational assistance and their parents given a five-year period livelihood assistance through goat raising while the phase two (from 2007- 2009) expanded its coverage.
The barangays covered were San Pedro Apartado and Kisikis while three others sites in Macayug, Ataynan and Gualsic are expected to be benefited also.
Nine out of the 21 barangays here are into tobacco farming.
Collado said the close monitoring of the areas involved in tobacco farming helped a lot in totally eradicating child labor.
He added that the success story of their town can be duplicated in other areas as he also stressed that the counterpart fund assistance of the local government unit is important.–EVA
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