Zamboanga City hosts summit on Children’s rights and welfare

A boy collects garbage inside a filthy trash box in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. Many poor children in Zamboanga City resort to working dangerous jobs to help earn money to buy food. (Mindanao Examiner Photo)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Feb. 9, 2013) – Zamboanga, dubbed as the City of Flowers in the southern Philippines, will host the “Rights and Welfare of Children” summit next week.

Organizers said the February 15 summit is a joint initiative of the National Youth Commission, House Deputy Speaker Maria Isabelle Salazar, the Department of Education, the EDSA People Power Commission and the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking.

Education Undersecretary Alberto Muyot and NYC Commissioner Percival Cendaña are expected to grace the program.

Some 200 participants, mostly 11 to 14 years old, are expected to attend the summit. Organizers said the participants are students and those out-of-school and others who are special needs or disabilities, including those from the indigenous communities.

“They will convene to address the many problems, issues and challenges that compromise the welfare and the best interest of our children, especially in the southernmost part of Mindanao where terrorism is still a societal problem and children are seen as victims of violence,” according to the National Youth Commission.

Issues about child trafficking will also be discussed during the summit.
Commissioner Earl Saavedra, head of the Summit Organizing Committee, explained that the areas within the back-channel route towards the neighboring ASEAN states are locations where frequent child-trafficking activities happen.

“The National Youth Commission prevented an incident, where 50 children and youth (mostly women), were brought to Zamboanga City from Basilan and were promised with jobs and scholarship by a certain illegal recruiter.”

“The condemning act was an eye-opener to agencies that work for the rights and welfare not only of the children and youth but including the other sectors of society. It was when we conceptualized the idea of organizing an activity to push for such important advocacy focusing on children,” he said.

Salazar, for her part, said the activity will open many more opportunities where children’s importance and roles are highlighted as a significant part of the nation. “It will make all of us realize that as early as now, they are part of our nation building efforts and we need to protect, care and love them”, she said.