MAYOR Joy Belmonte on Sunday said that more than 10,000 youth in Quezon City were victims of illegal child labor.

Belmonte made the remark in her 4th State of the City’s Children Report in line with the celebration of National Children’s Month.

These were broken down to 5,449 boys and 4,773 girls, most of them are selling sampaguita in the streets or working as vendors and in some factories.

“Sa kasalukuyan, mabilis at masusi ang proseso ng needs assessment at referral of appropriate city program at services upang tugunan ang pangangailangan ng mga bata at ng kanilang pamilya,” she said.

The mayor said the city aims to achieve zero child abuse.

“Hindi po tayo papayag na ang mga kabataan na dapat na nag-aaral at naglalaro ay nagtrabaho. Lalong-lalo na sa tinatawag natin worst forms of child labor,” she said. “Nakikiisa ako sa mainit na panawagang wakasan na ang child labor.”

To achieve this, the city government has provided financial, educational and livelihood assistance, especially to families and youth rescued from a series of city-wide reach out operations conducted by Task Force Sampaguita.

“Hindi pa man tapos ang taon, mayroon ng 80 pamilyang nabigyan ng tulong pinansyal, edukasyon, at panimulang puhunan sa negosyo,” Belmonte said.