THE SYMBOLIC INTERACTION PERSPECTIVE

Child labor happens to children 18 years old and below. According to our research, child
labor refers to All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking
of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labor, including forced or
compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict; the use, procuring or offering of a
child for prostitution, the production of pornography or for pornographic performances; the use,
procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of
drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties; and work which, by its nature or the
circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children
(ILO Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labor 182). Due to poverty, children are forced to
work in expense of their own selves. Due to the need for cheap labor wages, proprietors desire to
hire children below 18 years old.
Based on the Symbolic Interaction Perspective, our society is perceived to be socially
constructed by everyday situations among people and its environment. Our society is composed of
different perceptions about how we see the world and how it is being experienced throughout time.
Amidst the modernization we are in today, abuse and maltreatment of children are still prevalent.
Based on our research, during the year 2012, the International Labour organization stated that
168 million children are forced to do illegal acts such as sexual activities, too much hard work, and
jobs that are very damaging to a childs body, mind, and spirit. This child labor directs children to be
unhealthy as a whole, and mold them to be people with less dignity. Despite the laws that have had
implemented by the government, some members of the society still continue to exploit our young
generation.
Cases have been reported and taken into account by each country about child labor. This
includes a child named Jeraldine Pitang Macapaar Aboy who had been battling poisonous snakes
and tremendous heat from fiery sugarcanes as an 8 years old plantation worker. Pitangs father had
kidney disease, and the proprietor asked him to work in exchange for her fathers position in the
field (Granali, 2015). Children working inside the tunnels of Mount Diwata and Monkayo in
Compostela Valley use illegal drugs to prevent them from falling asleep for 16 hours of work. These
children also engage themselves to vices, which were induced to them by their adults (Fernandez,
2015).
Children in the Philippines are usually engaged in mining and plantation industries. They are
exposed to different hazards such as mercury and dangerous chemicals. They are not properly
protected and geared. Children work hard from 4 a.m. to 7 p.m. with a pay ranging below P100.00
to P150.00 per day (Granali, 2015).

Another case is about four minors aged 15-17 who were saved by the NBI that is said to be
the worst case of human labor. These four minors worked for more than 12 hours, starting from
6:30 a.m. as an all around helper at GHA factory in Balut, Tondo (garments factory). They were
only paid P 2, 800.00 a month; an average of P93.00 per day. These children are not allowed to sit
down while at work for more than 12 hours. The area they are working at had poor ventilation and
no fire exits (Carvajal, 2014).
There were also cases wherein children are asked to carry 15 to 45 kilograms of palm oil
branches each. Moreover, the backbreaking work of these children is not yet the end. They still have
to go to mining communities where they are exposed to different hazardous chemicals, falling
debris, and lack of oxygen. According to government data, the Philippines has 5.5 million child
laborers aged 5 to 17. Of the 2.93 million exposed to hazardous labor, 62 percent work in
agriculture (Sabillo, 2014). In addition to that, doctors said that these children who were too much
exposed to mining chemicals and plantation fertilizers have greater possibility to suffer cognitive
impairment or have their neurodevelopment with deficiency, leading to behavioral problems and
lack of proficiency in school (teachernube28, 2015).
Poverty is the root of child labor or any adverse activity people engage themselves in to.
Families who cannot afford to meet their needs are sometimes subjected to encourage their own
children to work for additional income, because these families does not have a choice but to work
extra hard even in the expense of their own health; which is why poverty must be the first to be
addressed by the authority. The ones that are affected by these happenings are our youth, who will
eventually become our future leading generation someday. If these children are being exposed to
these kinds of danger, what would our world be a hundred years from now if this cruelty and
negligence will not be stopped? Our world will eventually perish and suffer towards demise.
In the Symbolic Interaction Perspective, children will have a view of tomorrow as a fading
sun that might never give hope again. Children will only view the world as a form of malice rather
than a paradise. As they go deep inside a mine, as they inhale all the dangerous chemicals, as they
carry these heavy sacks, and as they wake up each day with a burden on their backs, they will
forever have tears in their eyes and a spreading shadow inside their mind, body, and soul. The
whole world can be affected if we do not stop these erroneous acts amongst children, because
someday, they will also be adults and be the hope of our nation. If these children we call pag-asa
ng bayan does not even know the meaning of hope, then to whom can we ever depend the future of
our world?