A State of the Filipino Children Report (SOFCR) is a

document prepared annually by the Council for the Welfare

of Children (CWC) to serve as advocacy material for all
sectors that work with and for children.
Every year, the Council agrees on a theme to give emphasis
on emerging issues or issues needing urgent attention
at the time of writing. For 2010, the CWC Board agreed
to anchor the report on Child- Friendly Governance with
special focus on allocation of resources for children.

Overall Situation of Children in the Philippines

Child Survival
Malnutrition remains a big challenge in both pre-school and elementary school
levels. The practice of exclusive breastfeeding in the Philippines has remained
the same from 2003 to 2008 at about 34 percent. The incidence of underweight
children 0-5 years increased from 24.6 percent in 2003 to 26.2 percent in 2008.
The decrease in the number of malnourished children over the past four decades
is less than one percent annually. At least two percent yearly decrease is needed
to meet the 17.3 percent MDG nutrition target by 2015. In addition, micronutrient
malnutrition still needs to be addressed, although some significant improvements in
iodine nutrition have been noted. Of note is the decline in infant mortality rate from
57 per 1000 live births in 1990 to 40 in 2003 to 34 in 2008. In maternal mortality
rate, the decline has been very slow from 209 per 100,000 live births in 1993 to
162 in 2006 per Family Planning Surveys conducted during those years, indicating
low probability of meeting the MDG target by 2015.

Child Development
In early childhood care and development, participation rate in center-based programs
among 3 to 5 year old children has slowly increased over a 10-year period from 29
percent in 2000 to 39 percent in 2010. In basic education, there is a steady decline
in school enrolment; there is an observable reduction in completion rate; and there
is significant increase in the number of school leavers and out-of-school youth. The

country is lagging behind in achieving universal primary education. Performance

in terms of elementary education is still quite far from the MDG target. It is also
apparent that elementary cohort survival rate at 73.3 percent for the same year are
still way below the EFA targets for 2015. Gender disparities in the Philippines reveal
that girls are outperforming boys at different levels of education in terms of net
enrolment, retention, and achievement rates.

Child Protection
Growing numbers of children are vulnerable to and have become victims of various
forms of abuse, violence, and exploitation. Data from various agency reports and
studies reveal the presence of working children (4.1 million as of 2001); street
children (246,000 as of 2002); sexually abused and exploited children, trafficked
children; children in armed conflict; children in drugs; children in conflict with the law;
and children without parental care and at risk of losing parental care.
The situation of children in Mindanao deserves special attention
considering that several regions and provinces in Mindanao are
worse off in terms of child protection indicators especially those
related to children in especially difficult circumstances such as
those affected by armed conflict and displacement as a result of
disaster, both natural and man-made.
Due to the continuing conflict, families experience a diminished
capacity to protect and care for their children resulting in
increased deprivation of basic services and lack of opportunities
for normal growth and development. One other consequence of
this frequent and continuing emergencies and disasters is the
overstretched capacity of service delivery system in the area.

Child Participation
The Philippines is a pioneer in the promotion of children and young peoples
participation as various innovations to institutionalize children and young peoples
participation preceded the CRC. The rich variety of experiences from the country
continues to contribute to the discourse and practice. The establishment of the
Sangguniang Kabataan or the youth councils, the formulation of the National
Framework on Childrens Participation, Child 21 (the Philippine National Strategic

Framework for Plan Development for Children), and the National Anti-Poverty
Commission Children Basic Sector representation are among the significant efforts
of government to engage young people to participate in the deliberation of matters
concerning them.
The fourth progress report on the MDGs admits that while the MDGs are top
priorities for the government, progress made towards achieving them has been
uneven. It mentions that the country has already surpassed the targets improving
access to sanitation, increasing tuberculosis case detection rate and providing equal
opportunities for girls. It also reports significant progress made in reducing mortality
rate among children aged 5 and below and reversing the incidence of and death rate
associated with malaria, tuberculosis, and other diseases. The report further projects
that the country is likely to meet the targets on proportion of population below food
threshold (hunger reduction), and access to safe drinking water. There is, however,
need to double or triple efforts towards achieving the following MDG targets: poverty
reduction; reduction in malnutrition rates; meeting dietary energy requirement;
improving elementary participation rate, elementary cohort survival rate, elementary
completion rate; reducing maternal mortality ratio; and increasing access to
reproductive health services, and HIV/AIDS.

Child Friendly Governance

The National Plan of Action for Children (NPAC) defines child-friendly governance
as Governance that provides the enabling mechanisms for the creation of a true
child-friendly society that is sensitive to the needs of the child, and where all sectors
interact and cooperate to produce holistic, integrated, and sustainable strategies that
promote child rights.
This definition includes as a key element sectoral interaction and cooperation to
produce holistic, integrated, and sustainable strategies that promote child rights.
It likewise implies that the interest of the child is to come first in the agenda of
government at all levels.
This means that in designing development programs and projects of government,
the child is viewed as the convergent point of all services and interventions including
monitoring and evaluation.

Parameters of Child Friendly Governance

1.

Child Friendly Resource Allocation

2.

Child Friendly Policy Environment

3.

Child Friendly Institutional Structures

4.

Synchronized Child Friendly Programs & Projects

CHILD FRIENDLY GOVERNANCE FRAMEWORK

The framework shows that the local government unit (LGU) is the convergent point of
all interventions designed to address childrens rights and issues. It emanates from
the transformation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child from a
legal framework into a well-defined, national, strategic plan (Child 21) that articulates
the vision of the country for its children. This vision is further concretized into clear,
actionable plans within a time frame of five years. Called the National Plan of Action
for Children (NPAC), this five-year plan carries development interventions such as
child friendly policies, institutions and programmes with corresponding resource
allocations.

Budgeting for Childrens Programs & Projects

At the national level, resources for programs and services for children are mostly
lodged in the budget allocation of the agencies in the social services sector, namely:
DepEd, DoH, DSWD, DOLE and its attached agencies including TESDA, HUDCC, CHED,
and CHR. To some extent, DAR too has a heavy social component in its budget, the
National Commission on Indigenous People (NCIP), DoJ and the PNP, all have social
programs and projects addressing childrens concerns.
The 2010 budget of Php1.541 trillion passed by Congress reflected an additional
Php25.23 billion budget for health, education, agriculture and environment sectors. It
was believed that this budget should enable Filipinos to contribute to the attainment
of the MDGs by 2015. The Philippine MDG Progress Report of 2010 concluded with

the recommendation that to reduce financing gaps, multi-stakeholder resource

analysis and planning for MDGs must take place at both national and local levels.
An important issue in closing the financing gap is the need to reduce leakages
in program/project implementation through streamlining of programs and better
targeting by way of reducing the too many, small, uncoordinated and overlapping
anti-poverty and social protection programs which do not make impact in reducing
poverty.
At the local level, aside from their share from the Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA),
the Local Government Code of 1991 empowered LGUs to generate resources from
and receive transfers directly in cash or indirectly in-kind and in the form of technical
assistance from external sources, both foreign and domestic. Other sources of funds
for social and child-related programs, projects and activities in the LGUs outside
of their regular budgets are special programs and projects externally funded but
require a certain percentage of cost-sharing or counterpart funding from the LGU
under agreed conditions spelled out in legal instruments such as a Memorandum of
Agreement. The LGUs under the decentralized system of government have the power
to allocate and increase budgetary allocations for social development programs and
projects especially those directly affecting children. The big challenge therefore is to
create awareness and commitment from LGUs to invest on children for a more lasting
and meaningful legacy.
Percent Share of Social Services Budget for 2008-2010

Source: Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Funding, www.dbm.org

Good Practices on Child-Friendly Governance Drawn from the Experiences

of Awardees from the Presidential Award for Child-Friendly Cities and
Municipalities
New Lucena, Iloilo (Region VI) Hall
of Fame Awardee in the annual
Search for the Most Child Friendly
Municipality among 4th to 6th class
municipalities (2006, 2008 and
2009)* The municipality boasts of
65 percent allocation of its total
LGU budget for programs and
projects benefitting children with an
expenditure rate of 91 percent from
2006 to 2009. It therefore comes

Breastfeeding Support Group of New Lucena, Iloilo

Province during the Synchronized Breastfeeding
Event Held in 2009

as no surprise that the municipality

has no reported cases of children in conflict with the law, children in labour, sexually
abused children and street children.
San Mateo, Isabela (Region II) National
Awardee for the Most Child Friendly
Municipality among 1st to 3rd class
municipalities.(2008 and 2009)*
Through Municipal Ordinance 2001
411, San Mateo, Isabela successfully
institutionalized the setting-up of herbal
and vegetable gardens in every household
Mayor Roberto Agcaoili of San Mateo,
Isabela welcomes the National Awards
Committee Validation Team

as a strategy to protect the environment,

reduce malnutrition and to ensure family
food sufficiency. Its anti-plastic campaign
Walang Plastikan which has likewise

earned the municipality a national recognition is proof of the local governments

intensive efforts to protect the environment for succeeding generations.
Vigan City, Ilocos Sur (Region I) Presidential Award for Child Friendly Component City
(2006, 2008 and 2009)* True to its being a UNESCO heritage site, Vigan City has put
up and is maintaining a museum for children, Buridek, Ilocano word for youngest, to
serve as a venue for children to learn stories of great men and women, family values,

language and culture, and several

other value forming modules
studied outside of the regular
classroom. Total development
of every Vigan child is the citys
mantra.
Naga City (Region V) Hall of Fame
Awardee in The Presidential Award

The Day Care Worker shows the instructional materials

for Most Child Friendly Independent available in the Day Care Centre of Barangay San Jose,
Vigan City

Chartered City (2006, 2008 and

2009)* The city has pioneered
in a number of initiatives and

reforms in the fields of education

and participatory governance. The
Citys indicator of development is
when all children from Naga go
to school and finish the level of
education they dream to reach.
Olongapo City (Region III)

Day Care Center Validation Visit of the National Awards

Committee in Naga City.

Presidential Award for Child

Friendly City in Highly Urbanized
Cities (1999 to 2009)* The
City government believes that
the welfare of children is the
true measure of success of any
LGU. As such, it has consistently
maintained its recognition as
the most child-friendly city
among highly urbanized cities
of the country as a result of its

Day Care Children in their center in Olongapo City

sustainable programs in health,

education, waste management and community-based monitoring system. It has
likewise maintained its recognition as a clean and green city fit for children to play
and grow and develop to their fullest potential.
*There was no national awarding in 2007, only regional recognition.

Stories of Initiatives and Good Practices on Child-Friendly Governance

from the Non-Government Partners of CWC
Complementing the efforts of government are the programs, projects and
services delivered by child-focused non-government organizations and the private
business sector through their corporate social arms. Included in this 2010 SOFCR
are stories from three non-government partners of the CWC in promoting and
protecting childrens rights. These are the stories of Save the Children, World Vision
Development Foundation and SM Foundation.
From Save the Children in the Philippines,
there is the story of Cyrus from Pasay City on
working with children to stop violence. Cyrus
is an active member of Youth Meets Children
Organization (YMETCO), a group in Pasay
composed of 25 children and young people
with ages ranging from 12 to 20 organized by
Save the Children in 2006. YMETCO focuses
on raising awareness about childrens rights
and issues in their community. YMETCO holds
regular small group discussions, play-acting,
art workshops, and community-wide events to
discuss childrens issues, particularly corporal

Cyrus John outside his home in Pasay City,

Metro Manila. Photo by Alison- LaporteOshiro.

punishment. As a consequence, YMETCO is

steadily gaining a reputation as the leading
voice for children in the community. Its youth members not only sit at the Barangay
Council for the Protection of Children (BCPC) but also at the City level Council. And in
a community where children have nowhere to meet and play, the donation of a room
within the Barangay Hall for YMETCOs meetings and other activities by the Barangay
Council of Barangay 144 of Pasay City, where Cyrus is a leading member, is viewed
as a major achievement by itself.
World Vision Development Foundation pursued in 2010, an Awards Program on
Childrens Participation in Citizenship and Governance, a program which aimed
to enhance the right of children to participate in the development process. This
was done through their exercise of citizenship and governance principles in the
communities they live in.

Through pilot-testing in nine

(9) Area Development Program
(ADP) areas in the Philippines
for seven months, the Awards
Program gave the children
an opportunity to integrate
childrens citizenship and
governance concerns into the
ADPs development agenda
and practice at the barangay,
World Vision Foundation pilots an Awards Program on
Childrens Participation in Citizenship and Governance in
9 provinces of the country

municipal and provincial levels

of government.

SM Foundation on the
other hand, has adopted
Safeguarding our Future:
Creating Child-Friendly
Malls as their corporate
social responsibility (CSR)
mission. As such, the SM
Supermalls Program on
Youth and Childrens Welfare
is committed to help future
generations reach their

A group of children participates in United Nations Day

Celebration at SM Malls

maximum potential. And

realizing that it will take more
than just a city to achieve that goal, SM Foundation together with parents, tenantpartners, various government institutions and NGOs, has come up with a series of
sustainable programs geared towards values formation of people doing business in
the mall at the same time ensuring the comfort and safety of children entering their
malls.

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Gaps and Challenges

1.

Uneven growth and insignificant reduction in poverty, deprivation and inequality

particularly with reference to children

2.

High population growth

3.

Vulnerability to natural and man-made disasters

4.

Inadequate allocation for the social services sector (Budget deficit for social
sector spending)

5.

Inadequate data collection and information system

6.

Fragmentation of health care delivery system, limited coverage of Philhealth

insurers, and out-migration of health professionals are the prevailing issues on
child survival

7.

Problem of access to quality basic education in pre-school, primary and

secondary levels

8.

Limited institutional capacities for child protection

9.

Issues of token childrens participation still persist

10. The challenge of peace and development in Mindanao

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Policy and Program Recommendations

To respond to the above gaps and challenges, this 2010 SOFCR reiterates the
recommendations spelled out in the Third and Fourth Country Report presented in
2009 to the UNCRC, The biggest long-term challenge in upholding the best interests
of the child is to create the structural conditions conducive to the promotion,
protection and fulfilment of human rights, most especially childrens rights. This
requires the strong and unrelenting political commitment and government capacity,
as well as active civil society participation to undertake all necessary measures that
will (a) effectively eliminate poverty, (b) reduce disparities in wealth and resources,
(c) wipe out rampant graft and corruption, (d) put an end to armed conflict, and other
forms of organized violence, (e) generate food and job security for families, (f) provide
opportunities for education, as well as health, nutrition, and other social services
without discrimination, (g) care for and protect the environment, and (h) bring peace
and stability among families and communities.
Finally, to make all the above happen, it is recognized that the big and urgent
challenge now lies in the political will and capacity of government to mobilize
broad-based actions and allocate the necessary budgetary resources to fulfill its
commitments to the MDGs, the WFFC goals and targets, Child 21 and the National
Plan of Action for Children (NPAC). It is hoped that under the new administration
which have won under a platform of clean and good governance, energies and
resources can now be focused to achieve its development goals and to move
towards achieving social justice and greater concern for the common good in order
to promote, protect, and fulfill the basic human rights of all its citizens, particularly
children, young people, women and other vulnerable groups.

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President Benigno Aquino III receives the Pledge of Commitment

to achieve the MDGs and to promote CRC from DSWD Secretary
Corazon Soliman and Barangay Councilors League of the
Philippines President Julio Jaime at the Advocacy Meeting
organized by CWC at Malacaan Palace on December 13, 2010