From fish buckets to books
DOLE saves fisherfolk’s son from child labor with ‘Bangkang Pangkabuhayan’
115 kilometers northwest of Manila is the municipality of Orani, Bataan. Sitting placidly along the coastal area of the town is the ‘barong-barong’ where Abet Guevarra, an 11-year old son of a fisherfolk--a bangkero--resides.
Embracing tough luck at his own risk, Abet trudges every morning to the filthy and perilous grounds of Orani's Pantalan Bago fish port to ply the only trade he knew–carrying big basins of fish as a young “banyero”.
At an early age, his was the daunting task of defying the dangers of such a workplace just to help his parents eke out a living.
Being exposed to child labor has been the pitiful reality of Abet’s life. But by a stroke of good fate, the Department of Labor and Employment has saved him from hazardous work through the ‘Bangkang Pangkabuhayan’, a livelihood grant of the DOLE to Abet's family.
DOLE Regional Office No. 3 Director Raymundo Agravante, together with Orani Mayor Benjie Serrano, personally handed over to Reynaldo and Abet the DOLE’s livelihood assistance, a motorized fishing boat worth P65,000.00.
The DOLE, aware that many families require their children to work at an early age to supplement family income, has conceived the ‘Bangkang Pangkabuhayan’ as an intervention intended for informal sector workers, like Abet’s family, to increase their daily income out of fishing so they will not send their children to work. The assistance is part of the Department’s scaled-up Campaign for Child-Labor Free Barangays which seeks to declare 89 barangays in 16 regions of the country child-labor free this year.
With a very firm resolve to lick the child labor menace in the country, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz had expressed the DOLE’s strong determination to 'liberate' child labor victims, as well as their families, to achieve its goal of making barangays with high incidence of child labor free from the menace.
“We at the DOLE reiterate our pledge to do our utmost in saving child labor victims and in making every barangay in the country with high child labor incidence child labor-free. In carrying out this resolve, we will take it one child, one barangay at a time. We will meet the challenge head-on," Baldoz said.
From school to fish port
At the age of two, Abet had spent his childhood days seeing off his father set out to sea, always hoping for a good catch every day. His father, Reynaldo, does not own a fishing boat. Like the other fishermen in the town, he rents a boat from a boat owner with a part of his catch. As the fifth among eight siblings, he already realized, as he grew up, this pitiful plight which forced him to help his father instead of attending school.
Nevertheless, the young banyero still believed that education is the key to improve his chances in life and alleviate his family’s abject condition. As the only one in the family to attend formal schooling, Abet managed to juggle his 'trade' in the fish port with his daily education.
But due to the family’s deprived situation, the bangkero’s son, despite being 11 years old, was still in Grade 2 at the Orani North Elementary School. He had to intermittently stop schooling and sacrifice his education just to make both ends meet for his family.
Fishing as a solution
Last 19 April, the DOLE Bataan Provincial Field Office, in coordination with the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) and the Orani Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO), conducted a spot check to assess the needs of Abet's family and to determine the suitable DOLE assistance for the Guevarras.
The DOLE found out that the meager, daily income of Abet’s father is still divided into five parts, two parts of which is given to the boat’s owner while the balance is equally distributed among the fishermen who uses the boat. This unequal sharing only allows Abet's father to take home a measly P100 in income despite his hard work. This, plus the monthly P2,500 her mother, Edna, earns from doing the laundry for other people was barely enough to support the daily needs of Abet’s large family.
Based on this assessment, the DOLE decided to provide Reynaldo a fishing boat of his own.
Saved
Reynaldo was almost speechless when he received his new motorized fishing boat. This, he said, will enable him to increase his income by up to 75 percent of his former earnings
"I can send Abet back to school," he said, adding:
“Maraming salamat po sa DOLE, kay Kalihim Baldoz. Asahan po ninyo na pagyayamanin namin po itong Bangkang Pangakabuhayan na ipinagkaloob po ninyo sa amin.”
For Abet, their new boat was life-changing. From hauling off big fish buckets, he is now lugging a bagful of books to school, and will no longer gamble his day at the fish port. He felt "saved" and said he will focus on his studies and shy away from such hazardous work as hauling fish buckets..
End/Krs
(with reporting from Jerry Borja, LCO RO3)
Embracing tough luck at his own risk, Abet trudges every morning to the filthy and perilous grounds of Orani's Pantalan Bago fish port to ply the only trade he knew–carrying big basins of fish as a young “banyero”.
At an early age, his was the daunting task of defying the dangers of such a workplace just to help his parents eke out a living.
Being exposed to child labor has been the pitiful reality of Abet’s life. But by a stroke of good fate, the Department of Labor and Employment has saved him from hazardous work through the ‘Bangkang Pangkabuhayan’, a livelihood grant of the DOLE to Abet's family.
DOLE Regional Office No. 3 Director Raymundo Agravante, together with Orani Mayor Benjie Serrano, personally handed over to Reynaldo and Abet the DOLE’s livelihood assistance, a motorized fishing boat worth P65,000.00.
The DOLE, aware that many families require their children to work at an early age to supplement family income, has conceived the ‘Bangkang Pangkabuhayan’ as an intervention intended for informal sector workers, like Abet’s family, to increase their daily income out of fishing so they will not send their children to work. The assistance is part of the Department’s scaled-up Campaign for Child-Labor Free Barangays which seeks to declare 89 barangays in 16 regions of the country child-labor free this year.
With a very firm resolve to lick the child labor menace in the country, Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz had expressed the DOLE’s strong determination to 'liberate' child labor victims, as well as their families, to achieve its goal of making barangays with high incidence of child labor free from the menace.
“We at the DOLE reiterate our pledge to do our utmost in saving child labor victims and in making every barangay in the country with high child labor incidence child labor-free. In carrying out this resolve, we will take it one child, one barangay at a time. We will meet the challenge head-on," Baldoz said.
From school to fish port
At the age of two, Abet had spent his childhood days seeing off his father set out to sea, always hoping for a good catch every day. His father, Reynaldo, does not own a fishing boat. Like the other fishermen in the town, he rents a boat from a boat owner with a part of his catch. As the fifth among eight siblings, he already realized, as he grew up, this pitiful plight which forced him to help his father instead of attending school.
Nevertheless, the young banyero still believed that education is the key to improve his chances in life and alleviate his family’s abject condition. As the only one in the family to attend formal schooling, Abet managed to juggle his 'trade' in the fish port with his daily education.
But due to the family’s deprived situation, the bangkero’s son, despite being 11 years old, was still in Grade 2 at the Orani North Elementary School. He had to intermittently stop schooling and sacrifice his education just to make both ends meet for his family.
Fishing as a solution
Last 19 April, the DOLE Bataan Provincial Field Office, in coordination with the Public Employment Service Office (PESO) and the Orani Municipal Social Welfare and Development Office (MSWDO), conducted a spot check to assess the needs of Abet's family and to determine the suitable DOLE assistance for the Guevarras.
The DOLE found out that the meager, daily income of Abet’s father is still divided into five parts, two parts of which is given to the boat’s owner while the balance is equally distributed among the fishermen who uses the boat. This unequal sharing only allows Abet's father to take home a measly P100 in income despite his hard work. This, plus the monthly P2,500 her mother, Edna, earns from doing the laundry for other people was barely enough to support the daily needs of Abet’s large family.
Based on this assessment, the DOLE decided to provide Reynaldo a fishing boat of his own.
Saved
Reynaldo was almost speechless when he received his new motorized fishing boat. This, he said, will enable him to increase his income by up to 75 percent of his former earnings
"I can send Abet back to school," he said, adding:
“Maraming salamat po sa DOLE, kay Kalihim Baldoz. Asahan po ninyo na pagyayamanin namin po itong Bangkang Pangakabuhayan na ipinagkaloob po ninyo sa amin.”
For Abet, their new boat was life-changing. From hauling off big fish buckets, he is now lugging a bagful of books to school, and will no longer gamble his day at the fish port. He felt "saved" and said he will focus on his studies and shy away from such hazardous work as hauling fish buckets..
End/Krs
(with reporting from Jerry Borja, LCO RO3)