Introduction

Children are humans with rights that are entitled to respect and protection.
Their age and size do not diminish these rights. The Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (UDHR) declares that children are entitled to special care and assistance,
owing to their vulnerability, dependence, and inability to speak out. Sometimes,
adults take children for granted, belittle their opinions, or worse treat them as
properties, robots, or toys. There are many cases of parents dictating their children
and where communication is a one-way traffic. There are also instances where misfit
parents take advantage of the inexperience of children in order to further their less
than noble agenda of greed, vanity, or redemption at perceived personal failures.
Thus, we see children married of to foreigners or forced to work as domestics for
debt bondage in order to raise the family, children forced to pursue a life which the
parents wanted for themselves but failed to achieve, or very little children who are
forced to join beauty contests and all kinds of contests for the perceived glamour that
they are supposed to bring to the parents.

Background

On September 20, 1990, the Convention of the Rights of the Child (CRC)
entered into force. It defines a child as a person under 18 years of age, unless he
attains majority earlier under a law applicable to him, and declares that the child, by
reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care,
including the appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth.

The Convention advocates the following principles:

a. The best interest of the child shall be the primary consideration in

actions concerning children:
b. States parties shall ensure the maximum extent possible for the
survival and development of the child, and recognizes the childs right
to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health;
c. A child has the right to express his/her views freely in all matters
affecting him/her and the views of the child shall be given due weight in
accordance with his/her age and maturity;
d. The child shall have the right to freedom of expression (subject to
certain restrictions);
e. States shall respect the rights of the child to freedom of thought,
conscience, and religion;
f. States Parties recognize the rights of the child to freedom of
association and the freedom to peaceful assembly;
g. No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with
his/her privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to unlawful
attacks on his/her honour and reputation;

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 h. The child has the right to education and standard of living adequate
for his/her development;
i. The child has the right to rest and leisure and to be protected from
economic exploitation.

The Philippines is a member of the Convention of the Rights of the Child,

together with 191 other countries. This convention is the most-ratified treaty, with
only the United States and Somalia as the remaining states which have not ratified
CRC.

Philippine laws and regulations concerning children

Among the Philippine laws passed for the protection of children are:

1. The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act (RA 9344);

2. Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and
Discrimination Act (RA 7610);
3. Act Providing for the Elimination of Worst Forms of Child Labor (RA
9231);
4. Anti-Child Pornography (RA 9775);
5. Anti-Violence Against Women and their Children Act (RA 9262);
6. Anti-Trafficking in Persons Especially Women and Children (RA
9208).

RA 9344- The Juvenile Justice and Welfare Act

Minors exempt from criminal liability

The following Children In Conflict with the Law (CICL) are exempt from
criminal liability:
1. Those who are fifteen (15) years old or below;
2. Those who are over fifteen (15) years old and under eighteen (18)
years old, when acting without discernment;
3. Those who committed acts punished under Article 202 of the
Revised Penal Code;
4. Those who committed acts punished under PD 1563;
5. Those who committed acts punished under PD 1619.

RA 7610- The Anti-Child Abuse Law

This is a landmark legislation for the protection of children from abuses. Many
of the crimes incorporated under this law are already punished in the Revised Penal
Code, but when the victim is a child, special laws and rules apply. The penalties are
higher, if only to stress the greater need to protect from cruelty and abuses.

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 Child abuse refers to the maltreatment, whether habitual or not, of the child
which includes any of the following:

1. Psychological and physical abuse, neglect, cruelty, sexual abuse,

and emotional maltreatment;
2. Ant act by deeds or words which debases, degrades, or demands
the intrinsic worth and dignity of a child as a human being;
3. Unreasonable deprivation of his basic needs for survival, such as
food and shelter; or
4. Failure to immediately give medical treatment to an injured child
resulting in serious impairment of his growth and development or in his
permanent incapacity or death.

RA 9321- Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor

The International Labor Organization (ILO) adopted the Convention

Concerning the Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst
Forms of Child Labor (also known as C-182 or Worst Forms of Child Labor
Convention) in 1999. This convention was ratified by the Philippines on November
28, 2000.

On December 19, 2003, Republic Act 9231 entitled, An Act Providing for the
Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor and Affording Stronger Protection for
the Working Child, was approved. The said law enumerated and defined the worst
forms of child labor, the working age of children and the persons whom they can
work for, the hours of work, the ownership, usage and management of the working
childs income, and penal provisions for violations of the law.

The phrase worst forms of child labor shall refer to any of the following:

(1) All forms of slavery, as defined under the Anti-trafficking in

Persons Act of 2003, or practices similar to slavery such as sale and
trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory
labor, including recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; or

(2) The use, procuring, offering or exposing of a child for prostitution,

for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; or

(3) The use, procuring or offering of a child for illegal or illicit activities,
including the production and trafficking of dangerous drugs and volatile
substances prohibited under existing laws; or

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 (4) Work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is
carried out, is hazardous or likely to be harmful to the health, safety or morals
of children, such that it:

(a) Debases, degrades or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of a

child as a human being; or
(b) Exposes the child to physical, emotional or sexual abuse, or is
found to be highly stressful psychological or may prejudice morals;
or
(c) Is performed underground, underwater or at dangerous heights; or
(d) Involves the use of dangerous machinery, equipment and tools
such as power-driven or explosive power-actuated tools; or
(e) Exposes the child to physical danger such as, but not limited to the
dangerous feats of balancing, physical strength or contortion, or
which requires the manual transport of heavy loads; or
(f) I performed in an unhealthy environment exposing the child
hazardous working conditions, elements, substances, co-agents or
processes involving ionizing, radiation, fire, flammable substances,
noxious components and the like, or to extreme temperatures,
noise levels, or vibrations; or
(g) Is performed under particularly difficult conditions; or
(h) Exposes the child to biological agents such as bacteria, fungi,
viruses, protozoans, nematodes and other parasites; or
(i) Involves the manufacture or handling of explosives and other
pyrotechnic products.

RA 9975- Anti-Child Pornography

Child pornography refers to any representation, whether visual, audio, or

written combination thereof, by electronic, mechanical, digital, optical, magnetic or
any other means, of child engaged or involved in real or simulated explicit sexual
activities.

The Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009 not only protects children who are
victims of pornographic exhibitions, but also those who, regardless of age, are
presented or portrayed as a child in such exhibitions.

Section 3 provides that the term Child refers to a person below eighteen (18)
years of age or over, but is unable to fully take care of himself/herself from abuse,
neglect, cruelty, exploitation or discrimination because of a physical or mental
disability or condition.

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 For the purpose of this Act, a child shall also refer to:

(1) A person regardless of age who is presented, depicted or portrayed as a

child as defined herein; and
(2) Computer-generated, digitally or manually crafted images or graphics of a
person who is represented or who is made to appear to be a child as
defined herein.

Violations of the law carry heavy penalties. The law also requires the
inspection and regulation of internet cafes and kiosks by local government units in
order to safeguard the children who are using these commercial establishments.
Internet service providers, internet content hosts, mall owners and other
establishments are required to stop child pornography activities committed in their
premises and notify the authorities immediately, under pain of penalty.

RA 10363- Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and

Children

The Philippines is currently in Tier 2 in the US Global Trafficking in Persons

Report, a standing which is deemed an improvement of its previous Tier 2 Watchlist
ranking in 2009 and 2010. This means that the country has complied with the
minimum standards set by the US Trafficking Victims Protection Act, but that human
trafficking still persists. The ranking comes with financial aid from the United States,
which could have been diminished if not totally withheld if the country retained its
Tier 2 Watchlist for a certain period.

As a country sending roughly ten percent (10%) of its population abroad to

live and/or work, the Philippines is one of the biggest source of trafficked victims. It is
also, to a lesser extent, a transit point and a destination. The domestic cases of
trafficking vary from commercial sexual exploitation, to mail-order bride schemes, to
organ trafficking and debt bondage.

RA 10364, which was approved by President Benigno S. Aquino III on

February 6, 2013, defines trafficking in persons as the recruitment, obtaining, hiring,
providing, offering, transportation, transfer, maintaining, harbouring, or receipt of
persons with or without the victims consent or knowledge, within or across national
borders by means of threat, or use of force, or other forms of coercion, abduction,
fraud, deception, abuse of power or of position, taking advantage of the vulnerability
of the person having control over another person for the purpose of exploitation
which includes at a minimum, the exploitation or the prostitution of others or other
forms of sexual exploitation, forced labor or services, slavery, servitude or the
removal or sale of organs.

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 The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring, adoption, or receipt of a
child for the purpose of exploitation or when the adoption is induced by any form of
consideration for exploitative purposes shall also be considered as trafficking in
persons even if it does not involve any of the means set forth in the preceding
paragraph. (Section 3, RA 10364)

RA 10364 punishes four (4) classes of acts, namely:

a) Acts of human trafficking under Section 4;

b) Acts that promote human trafficking under Section 8;
c) Causing the publication of the identity of the victim in a human trafficking
case by the media under Section 10;
d) Use of trafficked persons under Section 13.

Acts which fall under the category of Qualified Trafficking under Section 6 of
RA 10364 carry the penalty of life imprisonment and a fine of not less than Two
million pesos (P 2, 000, 000.00) but not more than Five million pesos (P 5, 000,
000.00).

Under the 2013 expanded law on trafficking, accomplices and accessories

also incur criminal liability.

A new section on the extraterritorial application of the law on trafficking is

provided, as follows: - The State shall exercise jurisdiction over any act defined and
penalized under this Act, even if committed an offense at the place of commission,
the crime being a continuing offense, having been commenced in the Philippines and
other elements having been committed in another country, if suspected or accused:

(a) Is a Filipino citizen; or

(b) Is a permanent resident of the Philippines; or
(c) Has committed the act against a citizen of the Philippines.

No prosecution may surrender or extradite persons accused of trafficking in

the Philippines to the appropriate international court if any, or to another State
pursuant to the applicable extradition laws and treaties. Section 23, RA 10364).

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Conclusion

In the Philippines, children enjoy little by way of autonomy, much less

individual rights. They are viewed simply and strictly as members of a family, which is
presumed to always be acting for the good of all.

Bur experience and lurid headlines and TV/movie dramas tell us a different
story. In many families, children are viewed as property to be exploited as their
parents see fit. Examples extend from beggars carrying infants and very young
children, who may or may not be their own children, in the hot sun and braving heavy
traffic, the better to attract sympathy; to parents consenting to, if not actively pimping,
their children to pedophiles or sexual entrepreneurs.

We also know of children used as unpaid labor on farms or households, most

probably with their own consent, to help out the family in dire straits.

There had been also cases involving parents committing incestuous acts
against their minor children. The places of commission of these crimes would reveal
that pornographic exhibitions in the media, the usual scapegoat, could not have been
the major influence because of the remoteness of those places and their
inaccessibility to most forms of media. Rather, it is highly probable that ignorance,
lack of understanding of parental responsibility, lack of respect for children as
individuals, and twisted sense of sexuality were the factors that contributed to their
commission.

On a different plane, the Supreme Court, by way of an amendment to the

Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law, prohibited health center
personnel from providing family planning advice, supplies or services to minors
unless they can present written consent from their parents.

This is problematic from the point of view of practically alone, but more so
when we consider how adolescents are still viewed as being under the authority of
their parents, unable to decide for themselves whether and how they will access
knowledge and the services they need to ensure their health and well-being, if not
their future altogether.