Let Children Play

“Sampaguita” girls, foot shine boys, or simply “tambay ” children are common sights at the streets of urban city here in the Philippines, so common that one would wonder if Philippines have any government at all. These street children are mostly seen sleeping on a flattened carton box and either seen begging for money or begging passers-by to buy from them. “Yosi”, round rags and “sampaguita” are the favorite merchandise of these street children but one could also see them doing menial tasks like wiping your foot and doing entertainment show such as singing their native songs, which of course, you have to pay for it, even though you didn’t asked for आईटी!

Child Protection Act of 1992 and Republic Act No. 7610 say that the minimum age for general employment is 15 years old. If this is the case, what happened to these street children? They are clearly not fifteen years old, so why are they working? Child Protection Act does have an exception but that can only be applied if these’ children’s work is a family business but selling “sampaguita” and the likes can’t be a family business. So, what happened to these children? What happened to the future of the Philippines?

One of a government’s jobs is to ensure the future of the next generation, namely, the children. That’s why the Philippine Government created the Child Protection Act that forbids the working of underage children and instead use this stage to study. Unfortunately, this plan does not work on all places, especially in the city where life is hard for a child and their family, to survive. The government with all its many, many plans mostly forgot that there are still street children to care about. A further and firmer implementation of Child Protection Act is necessary. A government agency called Bureau of Women and Young Workers implements all these child labor laws. It’s good to thick that the government created this agency but still, why do street children still exists? The Bureau of Women and Young Workers lacks the necessary resources to execute the Child Protection Act. Inspectors from the Labor Standards Division and the Welfare Division are not sufficient. Also, orphanages with good facilities need to be established to care for these homeless children but for those that still have their parents to depend on, a background investigation is needed. This investigation will determine if parents can support their children and provide a decent if not good basic needs that will include primary education. Children whose parents can still provide will be having parents be given a steadier job to support the family. Children that cannot be supported by their parents should go the orphanages in order to fulfill their basic needs. Nation problems need not to be too complicated, it is the government that made these simple solutions hard to implement but of course, lack of resources can also be a bit of a problem that may arise in this solution, but still, this is another topic that need not be discussed here. This is about poverty after all.

Street children are one of the many things that shouldn’t exist in a country. Sleeping in on a carton box and begging for food in order just to survive in this society can only express the poverty and hard life here in the Philippines. No wonder people prefer to work abroad rather than here. As for now, poverty is a fact of life so the government should hurry up and make this poverty a past of the Philippines and make street children know the fun of games without knowing the hardships of life. They have long years ahead of them so make them work when years have passed and no longer called a child.

Vida May Altura
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