2005 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor - Philippines

Incidence and Nature of Child Labor

An estimated 11 percent of children ages 5 to 14 years were counted as working in the Philippines in 2001. Approximately 13.4 percent of all boys 5 to 14 were working compared to 8.4 percent of girls in the same age group. The majority of working children were found in the agricultural sector (65.3 percent), followed by services (29.4 percent), manufacturing (4.2 percent) and other sectors (1.1 percent).³⁸⁰⁷ Children also work on sugarcane plantations,³⁸⁰⁸ in pyrotechnics production, deep-sea fishing, mining, and quarrying.³⁸⁰⁹ Children living on the streets engage in informal labor activities such as scavenging or begging. Children are also engaged in domestic service³⁸¹⁰ and involved in the commercial sex industry; children are used in the production of pornography and are exploited by sex tourists.³⁸¹¹ Child labor is one of many problems associated with poverty. In 2000, 15.5 percent of the population in the Philippines were living on less than USD 1 a day.³⁸¹²

Children are reportedly trafficked internally for purposes of commercial sexual exploitation and forced labor.³⁸¹³ Children are also known to be involved in the trafficking of drugs within the country.³⁸¹⁴ There are no reports of child soldiers in the government armed forces, but children under the age of 18 are recruited into terrorist organizations including the Abu Sayyaf Group and the New People's Army.³⁸¹⁵

The Philippine Constitution mandates compulsory elementary education for children aged 6 to 11 years old, and elementary and secondary education is free³⁸¹⁶ , although families must cover related costs such as identification cards and books.³⁸¹⁷ However, many poor families are unable to finance such costs, denying them equal access to education.³⁸¹⁸ In 2002, the gross primary enrollment rate was 112 percent and the net primary enrollment rate was 94 percent.³⁸¹⁹ Gross and net enrollment ratios are based on the number of students formally registered in primary school and therefore do not necessarily reflect actual school attendance. In 2001, 87.6 percent of children ages 5 to 14 years were attending school.³⁸²⁰ As of 2001, 76 percent of children who started primary school were likely to reach grade five.³⁸²¹

Child Labor Laws and Enforcement

The Labor Code of 1993, Republic Act No. 7658 of 1993, and Republic Act No. 9231 of 2003 prohibit the employment of children under the age of 15, except when working directly with a parent and when the work does not endanger the child's life, safety, health or morals, or interfere with schooling. The laws require that any child under age 15 employed under these guidelines receive a special permit from the Department of Labor, but do not define any absolute minimum ages for these children.³⁸²² The Labor Code also permits a child to work as an apprentice at age 14.³⁸²³ Republic Act No. 9231, the Act Providing for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor and Affording Strong Protection for the Working Child, codifies the provisions of ILO Convention 182 into domestic law. The act defines the worst forms of child labor as the four ILO Convention 182 categories, including criteria for what is considered hazardous under the fourth category.³⁸²⁴ In addition to setting the minimum age for work, the act limits the number of working hours for children, requires formal administration of working children's income, initiates trust funds for working children, and guarantees their access to education and training. Furthermore, the act establishes fines and prison terms for persons violating any of its provisions.³⁸²⁵ In August 2004, the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9231 took effect.³⁸²⁶ Since 1999, the Government of the Philippines has submitted to the ILO a list or an equivalent document identifying hazardous forms of work prohibited to minors under Convention 182 or Convention 138.³⁸²⁷

There are additional statutes under which the worst forms of child labor can be prosecuted. The Labor Code gives the Secretary of Labor and Employment the authority to limit working hours for children ages 15 to18 years, and prohibits hazardous work for children less than 18 years of age.³⁸²⁸ The Department of Labor and Employment's Order No. 4 of 1999 prohibits the handling of dangerous machinery or heavy loads; work that entails exposure to extremes of cold, heat, noise, or pressure; work that exposes children to physical, psychological, or sexual abuse; and work that is hazardous by its nature.³⁸²⁹ Policy Instruction No. 23 of 1977 prohibits night work for children under the age of 16 years from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. and forbids children ages 16 to 18 years from working after 10 p.m.³⁸³⁰ The minimum age for voluntary recruitment into military service is 18, or 17 for training purposes.³⁸³¹

Republic Act No. 9208, enacted in May 2003, criminalizes trafficking for the purposes of exploitation, including trafficking for adoption, sex tourism, prostitution, pornography, the recruitment of children into armed conflict, or under the guise of arranged marriage.³⁸³² The act also applies to the trafficking of children and establishes higher penalties of life imprisonment and a fine of two million to five million pesos (USD 36,036 to 90,090) for trafficking violations involving children.³⁸³³ Those who use the services of trafficked persons are also subject to penalties of 15 years of imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 to 1 million pesos (USD 9,009 to USD 18,018).³⁸³⁴ The act also sets out additional penalties for government employees breaking the law, and mandates immediate deportation of foreign offenders following the completion of their prison sentence.³⁸³⁵ Slavery and forced labor are prohibited under Articles 272 and 274 of the Revised Penal Code,³⁸³⁶ and the Special Protection of Children Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act protects children under 18 years from all forms of abuse, cruelty, and exploitation and prohibits child prostitution and child trafficking.³⁸³⁷ The Revised Penal code also prohibits engaging in, profiting from, or soliciting prostitution from children.³⁸³⁸ The Constitution defends the rights of children against exploitation and other conditions prejudicial to their development.³⁸³⁹

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is responsible for enforcing child labor laws through the labor standards enforcement offices. The government has also begun institutionalizing a computer database on children identified as working that includes their needs and identifies appropriate assistance.³⁸⁴⁰ However, the U.S. Department of State reports that child labor enforcement is weak due to a lack of resources, inadequate judicial infrastructure, and low conviction rates. In addition, child labor laws are not enforced in the informal sector.³⁸⁴¹ In 2005, DOLE rescued 151 minors working in exploitative occupations.³⁸⁴² The National Bureau of Investigation, the Bureau of Immigration, and the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group are tasked with counter-trafficking activities,³⁸⁴³ along with an inter-agency group on trafficking headed by the Department of Justice.³⁸⁴⁴

Current Government Policies and Programs to Eliminate the Worst Forms of Child Labor

The Philippine National Strategic Framework for Plan Development for Children, 2000-2025, also known as "Child 21," and the National Program Against Child Labor (NPACL) Framework serve as the primary government policy instruments for the development, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of programs designed to prevent and eliminate child labor in the Philippines.³⁸⁴⁵ Additionally, the National Plan of Action for Decent Work 2005-2007 prioritizes eliminating the worst forms of child labor.³⁸⁴⁶ The Medium Term Philippine Development Plan 2004-2010 also includes measures for reducing the incidence of child labor, especially in hazardous occupations. In the plan, the Philippine government pledges to strengthen mechanisms to monitor the implementation of child protection laws, develop social technologies to respond to child trafficking and pornography, and implement an enhanced program for children in armed conflict.³⁸⁴⁷

The Government of the Philippines is participating in a USD 10.2 million USDOL-funded Timebound Program implemented by ILO-IPEC and World Vision to eliminate child labor in specified worst forms. The program targets children involved in commercial sexual exploitation, mining and quarrying, pyrotechnics, deep-sea fishing, domestic service, and work on commercial sugar cane farms.³⁸⁴⁸ UNICEF also works actively with the government to promote children's rights, protect children from trafficking, and support educational improvements.³⁸⁴⁹

Additional government projects contributing to the goals of the Timebound Program include a 2-year project to combat child labor in tobacco production in Region I (Ilocos Region).³⁸⁵⁰ USDOL is also funding three projects in support of the Timebound Program, including, an ILO-IPEC inter-regional project to remove and prevent children from becoming involved in armed conflict in the Mindanao region;³⁸⁵¹ a global project that aims to substantially reduce the engagement of children ages 5 to 17 in the worst forms of child labor;³⁸⁵² and a global project aimed at contributing to the elimination of the worst forms of child labor by raising awareness about the hazards of child labor and the benefits of education.³⁸⁵³ The Government of the Philippines has also committed systematically to monitor the situation of child labor on a nationwide basis. The National Statistics Office gathers information on child labor by including children 5 years and above in its quarterly Labor Force Survey when measuring the economically active population in the Philippines.³⁸⁵⁴

Several governmental agencies in the Philippines have ongoing programs to address the needs of children vulnerable to exploitative child labor.³⁸⁵⁵ DOLE continues to implement the Sagip Batang Manggagawa (SBM-"Rescue the Child Workers") Program to monitor suspected cases of child labor and intervene on behalf of children in affirmed cases.³⁸⁵⁶ In 2005, SBM conducted 63 rescue operations, where 151 children were withdrawn from hazardous and exploitative working conditions.³⁸⁵⁷ In addition, DOLE has a number of social welfare programs targeting working children, including the Working Youth Center and the Bureau of Women and Young Workers' Family Welfare Program.³⁸⁵⁸ The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is the lead government agency that provides support for victims of trafficking;³⁸⁵⁹ children in armed conflict; and children who have been exploited, abused, or rescued from living on the streets.³⁸⁶⁰

The government has also implemented a number of education programs that benefit children at risk of child labor, including establishing new elementary schools, school feeding programs, and quality improvement projects.³⁸⁶¹ The Medium Term Philippine Development Plan includes strategies and action plans to enhance basic education and increase access to primary education through school construction, double shift classes, and distance learning centers in conflict areas.³⁸⁶² The draft Education for All National Plan of Action includes child laborers as beneficiaries of education services.³⁸⁶³ The Department of Education (DepEd) is implementing functional education and literacy programs that provide working children with basic education and skills training. DepEd's Bureau of Non-formal Education (NFE) collaborates with donors and local government bodies to provide programs under the NFE Accreditation and Equivalency System,³⁸⁶⁴ and has also developed learning modules for parents of working children for use in areas with a high incidence of child labor.³⁸⁶⁵ In support of the Timebound Program, DepEd recently issued Bulletin No.4 Series 2003 instructing education officials at the national, regional, and local levels to intervene to reduce or eliminate child labor.³⁸⁶⁶

International financial institutions and development agencies continue to assist the Philippine government in its efforts to provide children and youth in financial need with educational opportunities. USAID launched a 5-year program to increase access to quality education in marginalized areas, focusing on community based learning, reintegrating out-of-school youth into the economy, improving teaching capacity, and reforming education policy.³⁸⁶⁷ The World Bank is providing support for an elementary school education project that builds government capacity as well as improves access to, quality of, and completion rates for schools in 26 poor provinces.³⁸⁶⁸ ADB and AusAID are also assisting in the delivery of quality primary and secondary education services, as well as improving access to basic education in Mindanao.³⁸⁶⁹

3807 UCW analysis of ILO SIMPOC, UNICEF MICS, and World Bank surveys, Child Economic Activity and School Attendance Rates, October 7, 2005. Reliable data on the worst forms of child labor are especially difficult to collect given the often hidden or illegal nature of the worst forms, such as the use of children in the illegal drug trade, prostitution, pornography, and trafficking. As a result, statistics and information on children's work in general are reported in this section. Such statistics and information may or may not include the worst forms of child labor. For more information on the definition of working children and other indicators used in this report, please see the section in the front of the report titled "Data Sources and Definitions."

3808 Terre des Hommes, Sweet Hazards: Child Labor on Sugarcane Plantations in the Philippines, Netherlands, June 2005, 8; available from http://www.terredeshommes.nl/filelibrary/Sweet_Hazards.pdf. See also ILO-IPEC, Safety and Health Fact Sheet: Hazardous Child Labour in Agriculture – Sugarcane, Geneva, March 2004; available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/publ/download/factsheets/fs_sugarcane_0304.pdf.

3809 Godelia E.S. Ricalde, Nonita Adan-Perez, and Mark Anthony P. Nucum, An Annotated Bibliography of Child Labor in the Philippines, The Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) – ILO Joint Project on Child Labor, 2002, 2, 4, 42; available from http://dirp3.pids.gov.ph/dpnet/documents/annotated%20bibliography.pdf. See also ILO-IPEC, Supporting the Time-Bound Program on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Republic of the Philippines, project document, Geneva, September 25, 2002, 5.

3810 Ricalde, An Annotated Bibliography of Child Labor in the Philippines. See also U.S. Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices – 2004: Philippines, Washington, D.C., February 28, 2005, Section 5; available from http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41657.htm.

3811 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports – 2004: Philippines, Section 5. See also ECPAT International, http://www.ecpat.net/eng/Ecpat_inter/projects/monitoring/online_database/index.asp (Philippines; accessed June 23, 2005).

3812 World Bank, World Development Indicators 2005 [CD-ROM], Washington, DC, 2005.

3813 U.S. Department of State, Trafficking in Persons Report – 2005: Philippines, Washington, D.C., June 2005; available from http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2005/46614.htm. See also ILO, The ILO-Japan Asian Meeting on the Trafficking of Children for Labour and Sexual Exploitation: Country Report – Philippines [CD-ROM], Manila, 2001.

3814 Magdalena Lepiten, Children's Involvement in the Production, Sale and Trafficking of Drugs in Cebu City: A Rapid Assessment, no. 22, ILO-IPEC, Geneva, February 2002. See also ILO-IPEC, Assessing the Situation of Children in the Production, Sales and Trafficking of Drugs in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Thailand, project document, Geneva, September 17, 2002, 7.

3815 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports – 2004: Philippines, Section 5. See also Rufa Cagoco-Guiam, Child Soldiers in Central and Western Mindanao: A Rapid Assessment, no. 21, ILO-IPEC, Geneva, February 2002, xv.

3816 Republic of the Philippines, Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, (1987), Article XIV, Section 2(2). See also ILO-IPEC, Relevant Laws and International Conventions: Philippines, [online] n.d. [cited June 29, 2005]; available from http://www.dotenable.ph/ilo/laws.htm.

3817 Republic of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 6655, Section 3; available from http://www.chanrobles.com/republicactno6655.htm. See also United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations: Philippines, 39th Session, CRC/c/15/Add.258, June 3, 2005, para. 68; available from http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf/(Symbol)/945b69461d36a356c1257018002d9e84?Opendocument.

3818 United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, Concluding Observations.

3819 UNESCO Institute for Statistics, http://stats.uis.unesco.org/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=51 (Gross and Net Enrollment Ratios, Primary; accessed October 2005).

3820 UCW analysis of ILO SIMPOC, UNICEF MICS, and World Bank surveys, Child Economic Activity and School Attendance Rates.

3821 UNESCO Institute for Statistics, http://stats.uis.unesco.org/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=55 (School life expectancy, % of repeaters, survival rates; accessed December 2005).

3822 Republic of the Philippines, Philippines Labour Code, (1993), Article 139; available from http://natlex.ilo.org/txt/E98PHL01.htm. See also Republic of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 7658, (November 9, 1993), Section 12; available from http://www.pctc.gov.ph/initiatv/RA7658.htm. See also Republic of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 9231, (December 19, 2003), Section 2.

3823 Philippines Labour Code, Article 59.

3824 Republic Act No. 9231, Section 3. According to ILO Convention 182, the worst forms of child labor comprise, "(a) all forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; (b) the use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; (c) the use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties; (d) work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children." See ILO, C182 Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999, in ILOLEX, [database online] 2002 [cited January 23, 2006]; available from http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp2.htm.

3825 Republic Act No. 9231, Sections 2-4, 6. See also U.S. Embassy – Manila, reporting, February 27, 2004.

3826 ILO-IPEC, Supporting the Timebound Program on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Republic of the Philippines, technical progress report, Geneva, September 2004, 1.

3827 ILO-IPEC official, email communication to USDOL official, November 14, 2005.

3828 Philippines Labour Code, Article 139.

3829 Republic of the Philippines, Department of Labor and Employment, Hazardous Work and Activities to Persons Below 18 Years of Age, Department Order No. 4, (1999), Section 3.

3830 Republic of the Philippines, Policy Instruction No. 23, (May 30, 1977), Section 1 a, b.

3831 Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, Child Soldiers Global Report 2004: Philippines, 2004; available from http://www.child soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=875.

3832 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, Republic Act 9208, Section 4; available from Coalition Against Trafficking in Women – Asia Pacific (CATW-AP) at http://www.catw-ap.org/.

3833 The act also provides for confiscation of any proceeds deriving from trafficking crimes. See Ibid. Sections 6, 10, 14. For currency conversion, see FXConverter, [online] [cited June 23, 2005]; available from http://www.carosta.de/frames/convert.htm.

3834 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, Section 5, 10. For currency conversion see, FXConverter.

3835 Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, Section 6, 10. See also U.S. Embassy – Manila, reporting, March 1, 2005.

3836 Republic of the Philippines, Revised Penal Code, No. 3815, (December 8, 1930); available from http://www.chanrobles.com/revisedpenalcodeofthephilippinesbook1.htm.

3837 Republic of the Philippines, Special Protection of Children against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, Republic Act No. 7610, (1992); available from http://www.bwyw.dole.gov.ph/RA7610.htm.

3838 Revised Penal Code, Articles 202, 341.

3839 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines, Article XV, Section 3(2).

3840 U.S. Embassy – Manila, reporting, August 29, 2003.

3841 Ibid. See also U.S. Embassy – Manila, reporting, August 23, 2004.

3842 U.S. Embassy – Manila official, email communication to USDOL official, August 14, 2006.

3843 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports – 2004: Philippines, Section 5.

3844 U.S. Embassy – Manila official, email communication to USDOL official, August 14, 2006.

3845 Council for the Welfare of Children, Philippine National Strategic Framework for Plan Development for Children, 2000-2005, Makati City, Philippines, 2000. See also Department of Labor and Employment, National Program Against Child Labor Framework 20002004. The NPACL 2000-2004 is still in effect while it is being reviewed and renewed with ILO-IPEC support. See ILO – IPEC, Supporting the Timebound Program on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Republic of the Philippines, technical progress report, September 2005, 30-31.

3846 Department of Labor and Employment, Employers, Labor Agree to Promote Decent Work, [online] May 13, 2005 [cited June 29, 2005]; available from http://www.dole.gov.ph/news/pressreleases2005/may05/193.htm. See also ILO-IPEC, Supporting the Timebound Program on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Republic of the Philippines, status report, Geneva, June 2005, 3.

3847 Republic of the Philippines, Medium Term Philippine Development Plan 2004-2010, 2004, 113, 168-169.

3848 ILO-IPEC, Supporting the Time-Bound Program, project document. See also World Vision Inc., The ABK Initiative: Combating Child Labor through Education in the Philippines, Washington, 2003.

3849 The country program has been designed for the years 2005-2009. See UNICEF, Revised Country Programme Document: Philippines, [online] [cited June 28, 2005]; available from http://www.unicef.org/about/execboard/files/2004 PL9Rev1_Philippines.pdf. See also UNICEF Philippines, UNICEF Inks Agreement with Philippine Government to Reduce Disparities in the Well-Being of Children, [online] May 4, 2005 [cited June 23, 2005]; available from http://www.unicef.org/philippines/news/news_2.html.

3850 ECLT Foundation, ECLT Foundation Program in the Philippines with the Department of Labor and Employment 2003-2005, [online] 2003 [cited June 28, 2005]. See also ECLT Foundation, Philippines Project Update December 2004, [online] [cited June 28, 2005]; available from http://www.eclt.org/activities/projects/philippines.html.

3851 ILO-IPEC, Prevention and Reintegration of Children Involved in Armed Conflict: an Inter-Regional Program, project document, Geneva, September 2003.

3852 The project is entitled "The Regional Community-based Innovation to Reduce Child Labor through Education (CIRCLE)." See U.S. Embassy – Manila, US Government Grants to Promote Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, [online] April 28, 2005 [cited July 1, 2005]; available from http://manila.usembassy.gov/wwwhps02.html.

3853 The project began in 2001 and covers Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. ILO-IPEC, APEC Awareness Raising Campaign: Eliminating the Worst Forms of Child Labour and Providing Educational Opportunities, technical progress report, Geneva, March 2005. See also ILO-IPEC, IPEC Action Against Child Labour: Highlights 2004, Geneva, October 2004; available from http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/ipec/publ/download/implementation_2004_en.pdf.

3854 ILO – IPEC, Supporting the Timebound Program on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Republic of the Philippines, technical progress report, March 2004, 7. The Philippine National Statistics Office has conducted two stand-alone surveys. The first survey was conducted in 1995 and the second in 2001. Both surveys were implemented with technical assistance from ILOIPEC's SIMPOC and funding from USDOL. See ILO-IPEC, Reporting on the State of the Nation's Working Children: A Statistical Program for Advocacy on the Elimination of Child Labor and the Protection of Working Children in the Philippines, project document, 2001. See also ILO-IPEC, Reporting on the State of the Nation's Working Children: A Statistical Program for Advocacy on the Elimination of Child Labor and the Protection of Working Children in the Philippines, project document, 1995.

3855 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports – 2004: Philippines, Section 6d.

3856 Department of Labor and Employment: Bureau of Women and Young Workers, Historical Milestones of the NPACL, [online] June 2002 [cited June 30, 2005]; available from http://www.bwyw.dole.gov.ph/NPACL%20Milestones.htm. See also U.S. Embassy – Manila, reporting, August 23, 2004.

3857 U.S. Embassy – Manila official, email communication to USDOL official, August 14, 2006.

3858 U.S. Embassy – Manila, reporting, August 29, 2003.

3859 U.S. Department of State, Country Reports – 2004: Philippines, Section 5.

3860 U.S. Embassy – Manila, reporting, August 29, 2003. See also Department of Social Welfare and Development, Retained Programs/Services for Children 2004, [online] 2004 [cited June 28, 2005]; available from http://www.dswd.gov.ph/ProgProj.php?id=32.

3861 UNDP, Philippine Progress Report on the Millennium Development Goals, January 29, 2003, 26; available from http://www.undp.org/mdg/countryreports.html. In 2001, DepEd implemented the Zero Collection Fees system that banned collections of fees from students in public schools, leading to an increase in enrollment. See U.S. Embassy – Manila, reporting, August 29, 2003.

3862 Republic of the Philippines, Medium Term Philippine Development Plan, 199-204.

3863 ILO IPEC, Supporting the Timebound Program on the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor in the Republic of the Philippines, technical progress report, September 2005, 12-13. The Action Plan had not received final approval as of December 2005.

3864 Department of Education: Bureau of Nonformal Education, Innovations in Nonformal Education: The Challenge for Teacher Training Institutions, Pasig City, 2001. As part of its EFA 2005 initiative, DepEd is in the process of developing a system to provide alternative education to children ages 6-12 who are out of school. See U.S. Embassy – Manila, reporting, August 29, 2003.

3865 Embassy-Manila, reporting, March 1, 2005.

3866 Department of Education, DepED Bulletin No. 4 S. 2003, Philippines Timebound Program (PTBP) for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labor (WFCL), (2003).

3867 USAID, Philippines Education Data Sheet, 2004; available from http://www.usaid.gov/policy/budget/cbj2005/ane/pdf/492 011.pdf.

3868 World Bank, Philippines: Third Elementary Education Project (TEEP), [online] n.d. [cited June 28, 2005]; available from http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=104231&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projecti d=P004602.

3869 ADB, Country Strategy and Program Update (2004-2006), November 2003, 4; available from http://www.adb.org/Documents/CSPs/PHI/2003/CSP_PHI_2003.pdf. AusAID, Country Brief – Philippines, [online] n.d. [cited June 28, 2005]; available from http://www.ausaid.gov.au/country/cbrief.cfm?DCon=1148_8702_9418_7487_8517&CountryId=31.