MANILA -- Three regions in the Visayas have among the largest numbers of child labor cases in the country, figures presented yesterday at the First National Summit on Child Labor showed.

The figures at the summit with the theme "The Media Factor in Addressing Child Labor through Education" being held by World Vision at the Century Park Hotel here, show that four million of the 24.8 million children in the Philippines aged 5 to 17 years old are engaged in child labor.

The figures taken from the National Statistics Office 2001 study also showed that, while Southern Tagalog has the highest percentage of working children at 11.5 percent, the three Visayas regions were among the top six.

Central Visayas was ranked second, accounting for 9.7 percent of the children engaged in child labor, Eastern Visayas was in third with 8.7 percent, and Western Visayas was in sixth place with 8.2 percent. The 12 other regions of the country were ranked as follows: Region V - 8.6 percent (fourth), Region XI - 8.5 percent (fifth), Region X - 7.1 percent (seventh), Region III - 6.5 percent (eight), Region XII - 5.8 percent (ninth), Region 2 - 5 percent (10th), Region XIII - 4.4 percent (11th), NCR - 4.2 percent (12th), Region IX - 4.1 percent (13th), Region 1 - 3.9 percent (14th), ARRM - 2.1 percent (15th) and CAR - 1.6 percent (16th).

The figures also showed that 60 percent of the children engaged in child labor are exposed to hazardous environments, and only seven of every 10 working children or 2.6 million attend school under extreme difficulty.

As a response to the problem, World Vision has launched a special project for combating child labor through education in the Philippines with its "ABK Initiative" that stands for Pag-aaral ng Bata para sa Kinabukasan (Education for the Children's Future), project director Daphne Culanag said.

And the priority areas of the project are Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Iloilo, Cebu, Bulacan, Camarines Norte, Davao and Metro Manila, she said.

The ABK Initiative is a $7.8 million project funded by the United States Department of Labor expected to be completed by March 2008, she said.

To date, she said, the ABK Initiative has assisted 28,160 children engaged and at risk of the worst forms of child labor.

Assisted in Negros Oriental are 7,453 children, Negros Occidental - 6,326 and Cebu - 3,226.

The ABK Initiative targets six worst forms of child labor, which are deep-sea fishing, domestic work, mining/quarrying, prostitution, pyrotechnics and sugarcane plantations.

The objective of the project is to increase awareness on the negative effects of child labor and importance of education, Culanag said.*CPG

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