By MEL N. VELEZ
QUEZON, Bukidnon – The International Labor Organization (ILO) is helping the Quezon local government strengthen its education program to ward off uneducated young indigenous people ending up as child labor in sugar plantations.
ILO in cooperation with the Quezon local government under Mayor Gregorio Lloren Gue, the Department of Education and the private institutions including Coca Cola Foundation, BUSCO Sugar Milling Co. Inc. and Sugar Cane Industry Foundation Inc., funded the construction of eight high school buildings for the young natives in the 2.5 ha tribal village of the Quezon Manobo Tribal Association (QUEMTRAS) in Apyao, Barangay Butong.
ILO has focused its eyes on child labor in Quezon, where large sugar plantations hire out-of-school youths mostly indigenous.
The school buildings now stand as an education feature on sustainable development in the ancestral domain of QUEMTRAS under tribal chieftain Angelito Anglao, who expressed elation at the donation.
As part of the campaign on child labor, a declaration of intent to eliminate child labor was signed on January 31, 2012 by and among City Mayor Leandro Jose Catarata, Maramag Mayor Alice Paulican-Resus and Quezon Mayor Gue and Dep-Ed, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), BUSCO Sugar Milling Co. Inc., Sugar Industry Foundation Inc. (SIFI) and Coca Cola Foundation.
