Phl steps up action to protest children against armed conflicts

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - President Benigno S. Aquino III has further strengthened the government's program for the protection of children against armed hostilities, abuse and exploitation, a senior government official said here today.

According to Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., the program would be fulfilled through the revamp of the Inter-Agency Committee on Children in Armed Conflict (IAC-CIAC).

He said President Aquino recently signed Executive Order No. 138 amending Executive Order No. 56 (2001), and places the IAC-CIAC under the direct supervision of the Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC), instead of the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP).

Under EO No. 138, the CWC will be the lead agency in the implementation of the CIAC Program Framework, which addresses the alarming involvement of children in armed conflict, either as combatants, couriers, spies, medics, cooks or their recruitment for sexual purposes, among others.

The council will also be in charge of coordinating and monitoring the framework of the program at all levels.

Aquino also ordered national government agencies to formulate and integrate the program framework in their annual programs and projects in consultation with the CWC, Ochoa said.

A UN report recently cited the Philippines as among 22 countries last year that experienced conflicts involving child warriors.

According to the report, there were 11 recorded incidents of recruitment and use of children in the country, involving 23 boys and three girls recruited by the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), New People's Army (NPA), Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), and the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP).