For years, ‘buffalo kids’ in Agusan del Norte province have risked severe bruising, illness and even death. Pulling logs up to 14 kilometers has earned these 30 children up to just 50 pesos (US$1.16) per haul for their back-breaking work. Following a donation of 13 water buffaloes this week by the Labor Department and local officials, their daily lives are about to become less demanding. “The initial distribution of carabaos was meant to offer an alternative livelihood to parents [of buffalo kids] so that these minors forced to do odd jobs for their families can go back to school and not haul logs anymore,” said Labor Department Undersecretary Lourdes M. Transmonte. Religious groups like the Baptist Church Ministry of Baleguian in Caraga region, which includes Agusan del Norte province, will oversee supervision and parents will form an association to manage the water buffaloes. Each of the 30 children will also receive 5,000 pesos every quarter for their education in a bid to break a vicious cycle of poverty and back-breaking work. Most of the child laborers in Mindanao’s Caraga region started hauling timber at the age of seven. Labor Department records show 47 percent of these children are still only aged between nine and 12 years old and just 27 percent above the age of 16. Filipino law states that children as young as 15 may work legally, but only if it is in a non-hazardous work environment. Otherwise, workers must be at least 18 years of age meaning all the buffalo kids are effectively illegal. The majority of them don’t go to school anymore. They haul logs from logging areas down to waiting 10-wheeler trucks which then transport the timber to buying stations or wood-processing plants in the cities of Butuan and Cagayan de Oro. Along with Caraga, they are also found in Northern Mindanao, particularly in rural areas around Gingoog City. In addition to the recent donation of water buffaloes in Agusan del Norte, there is also hope of a political solution. Cagayan de Oro representatives Rufus Rodriguez and Maximo Rodriguez of the Abante Mindanao Party have filed a resolution in the House of Representatives seeking to put a stop to the abuses suffered by these under-age workers. They said the children are made to risk their lives and sacrifice their youth and future. Laurence Jeff Johnson, Philippines country director of the International Labor Organization, condemned what he called “the worst kind of labor in the case of the buffalo kids. Related stories Communist rebels push for child protectionChild labor unsafe, intractable problem
