SENATOR Loren Legarda, the principal author and co-sponsor of the landmark Republic Act No. 9231 or the Anti-Child Labor Law, commemorated the 21st anniversary of the law and underscored its positive impact in reducing child labor in the country as recently reported by the Philippine Statistics Authority.

RA 9231, enacted on December 19, 2003, aims to eliminate the worst forms of child labor and provide stronger protection for working children by amending RA No. 7610, also known as the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act.

Its salient features include prohibiting the worst forms of child labor, regulating the hours of work for children, ensuring access to education and skills training, ensuring that wages shall be allotted to such education, and establishing penalties for employers violating child labor laws.

According to the PSA, the number of working children aged 5 to 17 decreased to approximately 1.09 million in 2023, down by nearly 400,000 from the previous year’s figure of 1.48 million.

Of the 1.09 million working children in 2023, 647,000 were boys, while 447,000 were girls.

The proportion of working children has also fallen from 4.7 percent in 2022 to 3.5 percent in 2023.

These positive trends indicate the growing effectiveness of the Anti-Child Labor law, which addresses the worst forms of child labor in the Philippines.

Data from studies conducted before the implementation of the law estimated that child labor in the Philippines affected 4 million children in 2001.

RA 9231 prohibits children under 15 from working, except in non-hazardous family-owned businesses, and establishes a system for monitoring and rehabilitating child laborers.

It bans hazardous work, focuses on children’s health, safety, and morals, and mandates rehabilitation, education, and social services, contributing to a significant reduction in child labor.

The number of children engaged in hazardous work fell from 935,000 in 2021 to 678,000 in 2023.

This decline underscores the success of RA 9231 in curbing the most dangerous forms of child labor.

Legarda praised the law’s progress but emphasized that more work needs to be done.

“The decline in the number of working children is a significant achievement, but we cannot afford to be complacent,” Legarda said.