Thursday, September 20, 2007
Bill - Hon. Alvin Ray Paredes
REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVE
FOURTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST REGULAR SESSION
H.B NO. 1530
INTRODUCED BY: HON. ALVIN RAY V. PAREDES
EXPLANATORY NOTE
ANTI-CHILD LABOR
The bill (called S.B. No. 1530) during the 11th Congress. In the meantime, the advocates started lobbying in the Congress and going around the country to educate people on the bill and to get their support for its passage.
The International community, on the other hand, was also experiencing an important historical event because on 17 June 1999 the delegates of the International Labor Conference unanimously adopted ILO Convention No. 182 prohibiting the worst forms of the child labor. This event led the IPEC partners not only to lobby for the bill but also for the ratification of ILO No. 182 by the Philippines.
On 28 November 2000, the Philippines ratified ILO Convention No.182 making it the second country in Asia ad the 38th in the world, to ratify the Convention. With this development, a certain kind of optimism was felt by everyone because the country has obligated to take immediate and effective measures to secure the prohibition and elimination of the worst forms of child labor as a matter of urgency.
Surprisingly, the success on the ratification of the Convention was accompanied by a major setback on the bill because the 11th Congress ended without S.B. No. 1530 ever being deliberated on in the Senate.
This means going back to ‘square one’ of looking for a sponsor to introduce the bill and extending the delay in its passage. Undaunted, IPEC partners asked Sen. Legarda again to sponsor the bill. She introduced it as S.B. No.750. At this time several bills on child labor from both the Lower House and the Senate had also been introduced by members of Congress.
As part of their strategy to get stronger support from both houses and to hasten its passage, the IPEC partners decided to consolidate all the bills, using S.B. No.750 as the ‘ mother bill’ to come up with one comprehensive bill on child labor. Moreover, IPEC partners are now invoking the Philippine obligation under ILO Convention No.182 in its advocacy campaign.
Thus six years from the tine the comprehensive bill was first drafted, the IPEC partners were now regularly meeting again to redraft and consolidate all the bills knowing for certain that there are no guarantees that the comprehensive bill will ever passed into law, or even if it would, no one would know exactly how long it will take before it is going to be passed. The only certainty is, if the bill is finally deliberated in Congress, they could come up with a law entirely different from the one being proposed.
By 2002 most of the IPEC programs were coming to an end and resources were dwindling for meetings and consultations. It was, thus, timely for Senator Ramon Revilla and Senator Ramon Magsaysay, Jr. to agree to co-sponsor the consolidated version of the bill. The staff and the legislators studied and researched on the bill and then it was introduced and went through the legislative mill.
From 2002 to 2003, IPEC partners became regular mainstays making their presence felt in the Senate and showing their support and interest in the passage of the comprehensive bill while it is being staunchly defended by Senator Magsaysay during interpellations.
In view of the foregoing, the early approval of this bill is earnestly solicited.
HON. ALVIN RAY V. PAREDES
Labels: labor
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