CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (PIA)--Various government agencies gathered June 12, at SM CDO Downtown Premier and inked a memorandum of agreement, reviving the Regional Council Against Child Labor.

This is in relation to the Department of Labor and Employment's (DOLE) organization of the World Day Against Child Labor.

DOLE-10 Regional Director Estrella U. Pahalla said the commemoration will boost awareness of the plight of child laborers through the revival of the Regional Council Against Child Labor (RCACL), a convergence of various government regional line agencies.

DOLE-10 spearheaded the Batang Malaya Photo Exhibit, which will showcase the actual photos of child laborers taken during region-wide profiling.

Moreover, the activity featured the DOLEkula Film Festival Season Three Awarding Ceremony, a one-minute DOLE-10-wide digital film competition among its units that articulately interprets a Filipino child’s story against child labor activities with artistic integrity.

Other than these, a Serbisyo Karaban, a one-stop-shop for RCACL member agencies offering their respective programs and services in line with the prevention and elimination of child labor was also held. This would also demonstrate the country’s solidarity in the worldwide campaign against child labor.

According to Pahalla, DOLE-10 continuously upholds the rights of children, including their protection from all forms of abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation, discrimination, and other conditions prejudicial to their development, particularly child labor and its worst forms, through initiatives such as the Child Labor Prevention and Elimination Program (CLPEP).

CLPEP aims to remove children from child labor, particularly in its worst forms. Its strategies include the provision of livelihood grants to parents of child laborers through DILP, or the Kabuhayan Program. (DOLE-10/PIA-10)