22 families receive anti-child labor grant from BARMM government

COTABATO CITY — At least 22 families in Cotabato City with children employed as laborers received an initial cash assistance as a startup fund for small entrepreneurial projects that can generate extra income and prevent forced employment of underage family members.

The P15,000 cash grant to each of the 22 families is part of the Bangsamoro Child Labor Sagip Program of the Ministry of Labor and Employment-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region, drawn from its budget from the regional coffer.

In a statement on Thursday, the office of BARMM Labor Minister Muslimin Sema said that the P15,000 cash grants for each of the 22 families were released on Wednesday to parents and guardians of rescued child laborers.

“We have an extensive campaign against child labor and use of children as combatants and this is one of the projects intended to address such problems which are imminent in many parts of the region due to poverty,” Sema said.

BARMM covers the provinces of Maguindanao del Sur, Maguindanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi, where many towns have have not reeled off yet from the adverse effects of decades of secessionists conflicts and underdevelopment.

Nurhaifa Gunda, a guardian of her eight-year-old niece selling plastic bags at the market here, said she will use the P15,000 for a small fruit juice business in their village.

Morsalin Salik, whose seven-year-old son roamed the streets to sell fruits, said she will venture into cooking viands that she can sell every day to neighbors.

“We are thankful to the MoLE-BARMM for extending help to us,” Salik said.

The MoLE-BARMM, the International Labour Organization of the United Nations, the Japanese government and the non-government Integrated Resource Development for Tri-People are cooperating in putting an end to the nagging child labor problem in the Bangsamoro region.