I. Introduction

Child labor is prohibited and regulated in the Philippines under a framework of constitutional, statutory, administrative, criminal, and international law principles. The law recognizes that children are entitled to special protection because of their age, vulnerability, and developmental needs. While not every form of work performed by a child is automatically unlawful, Philippine law draws a clear line between permissible light work under strict conditions and prohibited child labor that endangers a child’s life, safety, health, morals, education, or normal development.

The principal legal sources on child labor in the Philippines include the 1987 Philippine Constitution, the Labor Code of the Philippines, Republic Act No. 7610, as amended, the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act, Republic Act No. 9231, which specifically strengthened child labor protections, Republic Act No. 10364, the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, Republic Act No. 11862, expanding anti-trafficking protections, and related regulations issued by the Department of Labor and Employment.

The policy of the State is not merely to punish abusive employers. It is to protect the child’s dignity, health, education, moral development, and future prospects.

II. Constitutional and Policy Basis

The Philippine Constitution recognizes the family as the foundation of the nation and requires the State to defend the right of children to assistance, including proper care, nutrition, education, and protection from neglect, abuse, cruelty, exploitation, and other conditions prejudicial to their development.

This constitutional policy is important because child labor laws are interpreted in favor of the child’s welfare. When there is doubt, the law generally favors protection rather than exploitation, schooling rather than premature labor, and rehabilitation rather than punishment of the child.

The child is never treated as the offender in child labor situations. The legal focus is on the employer, recruiter, trafficker, parent, guardian, manager, contractor, or other adult who causes, permits, facilitates, or benefits from unlawful child labor.

III. Definition of a Child

For purposes of child protection laws, a child generally refers to a person below eighteen years of age.

A person who is eighteen or older may also be treated as a child under certain child protection laws if, because of physical or mental disability or condition, the person is unable to fully take care of or protect himself or herself from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation, or discrimination.

In labor law, age classifications are important:

Below 15 years old – employment is generally prohibited, subject only to narrow exceptions.
15 to below 18 years old – employment may be allowed, but only under strict conditions and never in hazardous or exploitative work.
Below 18 years old – absolutely prohibited from hazardous work and the worst forms of child labor.

IV. General Rule on Employment of Children

The general rule is that children below 15 years of age shall not be employed, permitted, or suffered to work in any public or private undertaking.

This rule applies whether the work is called employment, training, assistance, participation, talent work, family help, commission-based work, piece-rate work, informal work, or unpaid work if the circumstances show that the child is being made to labor in a way covered by child labor laws.

The law looks at substance over form. An employer cannot avoid liability by saying that the child is merely “helping,” “training,” “volunteering,” or “assisting” if the child is actually performing work under the control or benefit of another.

V. Exceptions for Children Below 15 Years Old

Philippine law allows only limited exceptions to the prohibition on work by children below 15.

A. Work Under the Sole Responsibility of Parents or Legal Guardian

A child below 15 may work if the child works directly under the sole responsibility of his or her parents or legal guardian, and only members of the child’s family are employed.

Even then, the work must comply with strict safeguards:

The work must not endanger the child’s life, safety, health, morals, or normal development. The child must also be provided with primary and secondary education.

This exception is commonly relevant to small family businesses, farms, stores, or livelihood activities. However, the fact that the work is family-based does not automatically make it lawful. If the work is hazardous, excessive, exploitative, or interferes with schooling, it may still constitute prohibited child labor.

B. Employment in Entertainment or Information

A child below 15 may also be employed in public entertainment or information, such as cinema, theater, radio, television, advertisements, modeling, or similar activities, provided that:

The child’s employment is essential; the employment contract is concluded by the child’s parents or legal guardian with the express agreement of the child, when possible; the work does not endanger the child’s life, safety, health, morals, or normal development; and the child’s education is not prejudiced.

A work permit from the Department of Labor and Employment is generally required before the child may be engaged.

This covers child actors, singers, performers, commercial models, television talents, and similar workers. The entertainment exception is not a blanket permission. The child must still be protected from long hours, unsafe sets, inappropriate roles, sexualized portrayals, abusive handlers, night work restrictions, and educational disruption.

VI. Employment of Children 15 to Below 18 Years Old

Children who are at least 15 but below 18 may be employed, but their work is strictly regulated.

They may work only in non-hazardous employment. The work must not be harmful to their health, safety, morals, or normal development. Their employment must not interfere with education. They must receive proper wages and labor standards protections. They must not be subjected to night work, dangerous tasks, abusive conditions, trafficking, sexual exploitation, debt bondage, forced labor, or other prohibited acts.

A child who is 15 to below 18 is not considered legally equivalent to an adult worker. Employers still have a heightened duty of protection.

VII. Working Hours of Children

Philippine child labor law imposes limits on the hours children may work.

A. Children Below 15 Years Old

A child below 15 who is allowed to work under a lawful exception may not work more than the maximum number of hours allowed by law and regulation.

As a general statutory standard under Republic Act No. 9231, the child may not work more than four hours a day and twenty hours a week.

The child may also not be allowed to work during prohibited nighttime hours.

B. Children 15 to Below 18 Years Old

A child aged 15 to below 18 may not work more than eight hours a day and forty hours a week.

The child may not be allowed to work during prohibited nighttime hours.

C. Night Work Prohibition

Children are generally prohibited from working at night. Under child labor protections, children below 15 are not allowed to work between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., while children 15 to below 18 are not allowed to work between 10:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m.

Night work restrictions are especially important in entertainment, food service, retail, domestic arrangements, transport, agriculture, street work, and informal businesses.

VIII. Education Requirement

Child labor regulation is inseparable from the child’s right to education.

Even when child work is legally permitted, the employer, parent, or guardian must ensure that the child’s work does not interfere with schooling. A child cannot be made to work in a way that causes absenteeism, exhaustion, poor school performance, withdrawal from school, or inability to participate in basic education.

For children below 15 working under an exception, the law specifically requires that the child be provided with primary and secondary education.

Any work that effectively sacrifices a child’s education may be considered unlawful or exploitative even if the work appears light or family-based.

IX. Prohibited Child Labor

Child labor becomes prohibited when it involves any work or economic activity that is harmful to the child or violates legal safeguards.

Prohibited child labor includes:

Work that endangers the child’s life, safety, health, or morals; work that impairs the child’s normal development; work that interferes with education; work performed under exploitative conditions; work involving excessive hours; work at night; work in hazardous industries; forced labor; bonded labor; trafficking; prostitution; pornography; use of children in illicit activities; and recruitment of children for armed conflict.

The law does not require actual injury before liability may arise. Exposure to prohibited conditions may be enough.

X. Worst Forms of Child Labor

The worst forms of child labor are absolutely prohibited. These are treated with particular seriousness because they involve grave harm, exploitation, coercion, criminality, or danger.

The worst forms include:

A. Slavery and Practices Similar to Slavery

This includes the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage, serfdom, forced labor, compulsory labor, and recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.

A child cannot lawfully consent to slavery, trafficking, or forced labor. Poverty, family consent, or alleged willingness of the child is not a defense.

B. Prostitution, Pornography, and Sexual Exploitation

The use, procuring, offering, or exposing of a child for prostitution, pornography, obscene performances, sexual shows, online sexual abuse, or sexual exploitation is strictly prohibited.

This includes not only direct sexual contact but also photography, video, livestreaming, online exploitation, grooming, commercial sexual arrangements, and performance-based exploitation.

C. Illegal or Illicit Activities

The use, procuring, or offering of a child for illegal or illicit activities is prohibited. This includes the production and trafficking of dangerous drugs, drug courier work, theft, begging syndicates, smuggling, illegal gambling, and similar activities.

D. Hazardous Work

Any work that is likely to harm the health, safety, or morals of children is prohibited for persons below 18.

Hazardous work is not limited to factories or mines. It can exist in homes, streets, farms, markets, entertainment venues, transport, construction sites, online environments, and informal workplaces.

XI. Hazardous Work

Children below 18 may not be employed in hazardous work.

Hazardous work includes work that exposes the child to physical, psychological, sexual, chemical, biological, or ergonomic hazards; dangerous machinery; extreme temperatures; excessive noise; toxic substances; heavy loads; confined spaces; heights; underground or underwater work; explosives; sharp tools; dangerous animals; abusive supervision; or morally harmful environments.

Examples include:

Mining, quarrying, construction, deep-sea fishing, commercial fishing under dangerous conditions, logging, work with explosives, work with pesticides and toxic chemicals, work involving heavy machinery, garbage scavenging, street vending under dangerous conditions, work in bars or adult entertainment establishments, domestic work involving abuse or isolation, work in slaughterhouses, transport work exposing the child to accidents, and agricultural work involving dangerous tools or chemicals.

The Department of Labor and Employment has issued rules identifying hazardous work and activities prohibited for children. These lists are interpreted in line with the protective purpose of the law. Even if a job title is not specifically named, the actual conditions may make the work hazardous.

XII. Child Work in Family Enterprises

Family work is one of the most common areas of misunderstanding.

Philippine law does not absolutely prohibit children from helping their families in all circumstances. However, family involvement is lawful only if it is safe, age-appropriate, non-exploitative, limited in hours, compatible with education, and does not impair the child’s health or development.

A child helping in a sari-sari store for a short, safe period after school is legally different from a child being required to work long hours, skip school, carry heavy loads, handle dangerous equipment, sell on dangerous streets late at night, or work in a hazardous farm or workshop.

Parental authority is not a license to exploit. Parents and guardians have a duty to protect the child’s best interests.

XIII. Child Domestic Work

Domestic work involving children requires special attention because it often occurs inside private homes and may be hidden from public inspection.

Under Philippine law, domestic workers or kasambahays are protected by the Domestic Workers Act. The employment of children in domestic work is restricted by minimum age and labor standards. Children must not be subjected to forced labor, excessive hours, physical abuse, unpaid wages, confinement, sexual abuse, denial of education, or hazardous household tasks.

A child placed in another household to clean, cook, care for younger children, or serve a family may be a victim of child labor, trafficking, or exploitation depending on the circumstances.

Red flags include living-in arrangements without schooling, unpaid or underpaid work, confiscation of personal documents, inability to leave, verbal or physical abuse, isolation from family, and work performed from early morning until late at night.

XIV. Child Labor in Agriculture, Fishing, and Rural Work

Agriculture and fishing are common sectors where child labor occurs.

Children may be exposed to pesticides, sharp tools, heavy loads, animals, extreme heat, long hours, deep water, boats, nets, machinery, and hazardous terrain.

Even when the child works for the family farm or fishing livelihood, the work may be illegal if it exposes the child to danger or interferes with education. A child cannot be assigned tasks that are beyond the child’s physical capacity or that expose the child to harmful substances or dangerous working conditions.

Particular concern arises in sugarcane, tobacco, banana, coconut, rice, corn, fishing, aquaculture, livestock, and similar sectors where child labor risks have historically existed.

XV. Child Labor in Entertainment, Media, and Online Content

The entertainment and media industries may lawfully engage children only under strict safeguards.

Child talents, actors, singers, models, streamers, influencers, commercial endorsers, and performers must be protected from exploitation. Legal concerns include working hours, rest periods, schooling, compensation, psychological pressure, sexualized roles, inappropriate costumes, unsafe sets, exposure to public harassment, and misuse of earnings.

For online content, the same protective principles apply. Parents, guardians, managers, or platforms may be scrutinized if a child is used in monetized content in a way that harms the child’s dignity, privacy, schooling, safety, or development.

Children used in prank videos, family vlogs, livestreams, advertisements, or monetized performances may be considered working children depending on the facts.

The child’s earnings must be protected, and the child’s participation must not amount to exploitation.

XVI. Child Trafficking and Labor Exploitation

Child labor may overlap with trafficking in persons.

Under anti-trafficking laws, trafficking includes recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring, provision, or receipt of persons for exploitation. When the victim is a child, proof of force, fraud, threat, coercion, or deception is not required in the same way as with adults. The child’s minority itself triggers special protection.

Child trafficking may involve:

Recruiting a child for domestic servitude, forced begging, sexual exploitation, online sexual abuse, factory work, farm labor, illegal activities, street work, or other exploitative labor.

The offender may be a recruiter, transporter, employer, parent, guardian, relative, agency, customer, online facilitator, or person who benefits from the exploitation.

Consent of the child or the parents is not a defense when trafficking or exploitation is present.

XVII. Prohibited Acts by Employers and Other Persons

Philippine law prohibits several acts involving child labor and exploitation.

These include:

Employing a child below the legal minimum age without falling under a lawful exception; employing a child without the required permit when a permit is required; making a child work beyond allowed hours; making a child work at night; assigning a child to hazardous work; interfering with a child’s education; exposing a child to physical, moral, sexual, or psychological harm; withholding wages; using a child for prostitution, pornography, or obscene shows; using a child in illegal activities; trafficking a child; subjecting a child to forced labor or debt bondage; and causing or permitting a child to work in conditions prejudicial to development.

Liability may attach not only to the direct employer but also to managers, supervisors, contractors, recruiters, agencies, parents, guardians, or business owners who knowingly permit or benefit from the unlawful employment.

XVIII. Duties of Employers

Employers who lawfully employ children have strict duties.

They must verify the child’s age; comply with minimum age rules; secure necessary permits; ensure that the work is not hazardous; observe working-hour limits; protect the child’s health and safety; pay proper wages; keep employment records; avoid night work; ensure the child’s education is not impaired; provide humane working conditions; and comply with labor standards.

Employers cannot use waivers, parental consent, verbal agreements, or informal arrangements to escape statutory obligations.

A child worker is still entitled to applicable labor rights, including compensation, humane conditions, and protection from abuse.

XIX. Duties of Parents and Guardians

Parents and guardians have the primary duty to care for and protect the child. They may not use parental authority to justify exploitation.

A parent or guardian may become liable if he or she causes, allows, or facilitates prohibited child labor, trafficking, prostitution, forced labor, or hazardous work.

However, enforcement policy should distinguish between exploitative conduct and poverty-driven survival situations. In many cases, intervention focuses on removing the child from harmful work, providing services, assisting the family, and addressing poverty rather than criminalizing poverty itself.

Still, where parents or guardians knowingly exploit, sell, traffic, abuse, or endanger the child, criminal liability may arise.

XX. Work Permits for Children

Certain lawful employment of children requires a work permit from the Department of Labor and Employment.

This is especially relevant for children below 15 engaged in entertainment, media, advertising, or similar work.

A permit system allows the government to check whether the child’s work is lawful, safe, limited, and compatible with education. The permit requirement also prevents employers from informally using child performers without oversight.

Failure to secure a required work permit may constitute a violation even if no physical injury has occurred.

XXI. Compensation and Protection of Earnings

A child who lawfully works must be paid properly. The child’s earnings should belong to the child and should be used primarily for the child’s support, education, or welfare.

Parents, guardians, employers, talent managers, or agencies may not misappropriate the child’s income.

In entertainment and similar industries, special attention must be given to protecting the child’s earnings from misuse by adults. The child’s labor cannot be treated as family property.

XXII. Criminal, Administrative, and Civil Liability

Violations of child labor laws may result in several forms of liability.

A. Criminal Liability

Serious violations may lead to criminal prosecution, especially when the conduct involves trafficking, forced labor, sexual exploitation, pornography, prostitution, hazardous work, or exploitation under Republic Act No. 7610 and related laws.

Penalties may include imprisonment and fines. Penalties are generally heavier when the victim is a child, when the work is hazardous, or when exploitation is severe.

B. Administrative Liability

The Department of Labor and Employment may inspect establishments, issue compliance orders, assess violations, require correction, and impose sanctions within its authority.

Businesses may face closure, suspension, fines, or disqualification from certain privileges depending on the violation and applicable rules.

C. Civil Liability

The offender may be required to pay damages, unpaid wages, benefits, medical expenses, and other relief. Civil liability may arise from abuse, exploitation, breach of labor standards, or injury caused to the child.

D. Corporate and Managerial Accountability

Where a corporation, partnership, agency, or establishment is involved, responsible officers may be held liable if they participated in, permitted, or failed to prevent prohibited child labor.

XXIII. Labor Inspection and Enforcement

The Department of Labor and Employment is the main agency responsible for labor standards enforcement, including child labor inspections.

Labor inspectors may inspect workplaces, verify compliance, interview workers, review records, and require corrective measures.

Child labor enforcement often requires coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development, local government units, barangay officials, law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, schools, and child protection councils.

In cases involving trafficking, sexual exploitation, or criminal abuse, law enforcement and prosecutorial authorities become central.

XXIV. Rescue, Removal, Rehabilitation, and Social Services

The objective of child labor enforcement is not only punishment but also protection and rehabilitation.

A child found in exploitative labor may be removed from the workplace and referred for social services. These may include temporary shelter, counseling, medical care, educational assistance, livelihood support for the family, legal assistance, and reintegration.

The child should not be treated as a criminal, even if the child was used in illegal activities. The child is considered a victim or a child in need of protection.

XXV. Barangay and Local Government Responsibilities

Local governments play an important role in preventing and addressing child labor.

Barangays, city and municipal governments, local social welfare offices, public schools, and local child protection councils may identify child labor cases, refer children to appropriate agencies, support families, monitor school attendance, and assist in rescue and rehabilitation.

Because child labor is often hidden in homes, farms, streets, and informal workplaces, local-level detection is essential.

XXVI. Relation to Education Laws

Child labor laws support compulsory education and the State’s obligation to provide basic education.

Work that prevents a child from attending school, completing homework, resting, or developing normally may violate child protection principles.

Even when a child’s family is poor, the legal response should prioritize school retention, family support, and social protection programs rather than allowing the child to remain in harmful work.

XXVII. Relation to Anti-Abuse Laws

Child labor may also constitute child abuse when it debases, degrades, or demeans the intrinsic worth and dignity of the child, or when it causes physical or psychological harm.

Republic Act No. 7610 protects children from abuse, neglect, cruelty, exploitation, and discrimination. Exploitative labor may fall within this protection when the circumstances show harm, coercion, degradation, or abuse.

A child forced to work long hours, denied schooling, beaten, sexually harassed, humiliated, confined, or deprived of wages may be protected not only under labor laws but also under child abuse laws.

XXVIII. Relation to Online Sexual Abuse and Exploitation

Modern child labor issues increasingly involve online exploitation.

Children may be forced, induced, or manipulated to perform sexual acts, pose in explicit ways, livestream content, create images, or participate in online shows for payment or gifts.

This is not merely “online content work.” It may constitute online sexual abuse or exploitation of children, trafficking, child pornography, or child abuse.

Parents, guardians, relatives, neighbors, online customers, foreign offenders, livestream facilitators, and payment intermediaries may all be investigated depending on their role.

XXIX. Common Misconceptions

A common misconception is that child labor is lawful if the child or parent agrees. Consent is not a defense to prohibited child labor, especially when the work is hazardous, exploitative, or involves trafficking or sexual exploitation.

Another misconception is that child labor exists only in factories. It may occur in homes, farms, fishing boats, streets, markets, entertainment sets, online platforms, family businesses, and informal arrangements.

Another misconception is that unpaid work is not child labor. Unpaid work can still be prohibited if it is forced, hazardous, excessive, exploitative, or harmful to schooling and development.

Another misconception is that children may do any work as long as it helps the family. Family poverty does not legalize hazardous or exploitative labor.

Another misconception is that a child who looks mature can be treated as an adult worker. Legal protection depends on age, not appearance.

XXX. Examples of Prohibited Acts

The following are examples of acts that may violate Philippine child labor laws:

Hiring a 13-year-old as a store helper for regular daily work without a lawful exception.

Making a 14-year-old work in a restaurant until midnight.

Employing a 16-year-old in construction work involving heights, heavy materials, and dangerous tools.

Allowing a child to work in a bar, nightclub, gambling place, or adult entertainment establishment.

Using a child to sell goods on dangerous roads late at night.

Making a child skip school to work in a farm or family business.

Using a child in livestreams, advertisements, or performances without safeguards or permits.

Employing a child as a domestic worker under conditions of isolation, excessive hours, or denial of schooling.

Recruiting children to work in another province under false promises.

Using a child to transport drugs or participate in criminal activity.

Requiring a child to work to pay off a family debt.

Using a child in sexualized performances, pornography, prostitution, or online exploitation.

XXXI. Permissible Child Work Distinguished

Not all child participation in productive activity is unlawful.

Permissible child work may include age-appropriate chores, occasional assistance in a family business, school-based training, artistic or cultural participation, and lawful entertainment work under permit and safeguards.

The distinction depends on several factors:

The age of the child, the nature of the work, the number of hours, the time of day, the effect on schooling, the presence of hazards, whether the child is paid, whether there is coercion, whether the child’s dignity is respected, and whether the work supports or harms the child’s development.

The controlling test is the best interest and protection of the child.

XXXII. Remedies and Reporting

Child labor cases may be reported to appropriate authorities, including the Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Social Welfare and Development, local social welfare office, barangay officials, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, prosecutors, schools, and child protection mechanisms.

Where there is immediate danger, sexual exploitation, trafficking, physical abuse, confinement, or forced labor, law enforcement and social welfare authorities should be involved urgently.

Reports may lead to inspection, rescue, removal from harmful work, social services, prosecution, and administrative action.

XXXIII. Employer Defenses and Their Limits

Employers may attempt to argue that they did not know the child’s age, that the child lied about age, that the parents consented, that the work was voluntary, that the child was merely helping, or that the child needed income.

These defenses are limited.

Employers have a duty to verify age and comply with child labor standards. Parental consent does not authorize prohibited work. Voluntariness does not cure hazardous labor. Economic need does not excuse exploitation. Informality does not remove legal responsibility.

The law imposes heightened caution when dealing with minors.

XXXIV. The Best Interest of the Child Standard

The best interest of the child is a guiding principle in interpreting and applying child labor laws.

This means that decisions should prioritize the child’s safety, health, education, dignity, development, and long-term welfare.

The best interest standard is broader than mere absence of injury. Work may be considered harmful if it deprives the child of rest, play, schooling, emotional security, or normal social development.

XXXV. International Law Context

The Philippines is a party to international commitments protecting children from economic exploitation and hazardous work.

These include principles found in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and International Labour Organization conventions on minimum age and worst forms of child labor.

Philippine statutes reflect these commitments by prohibiting hazardous work, trafficking, forced labor, sexual exploitation, and work that interferes with education.

International law reinforces the interpretation that child labor protections should be applied broadly and effectively.

XXXVI. Enforcement Challenges in the Philippines

Child labor persists because of poverty, lack of access to education, informal employment, weak documentation, migration, disasters, family debt, lack of livelihood, and hidden work arrangements.

Many child labor cases occur outside formal establishments, making inspection difficult. Children may work in family farms, fishing communities, streets, homes, online environments, or small unregistered businesses.

Effective enforcement therefore requires not only punishment but also poverty reduction, education access, community monitoring, livelihood support, birth registration, social protection, and local child protection systems.

XXXVII. Legal Significance of Age Documentation

Age verification is essential in child labor cases.

Birth certificates, school records, baptismal records, medical records, or other documents may be used to establish age. In the absence of documents, authorities may rely on available evidence and protective presumptions.

Employers who fail to verify age take legal risks. A claim that the child appeared older may not absolve responsibility.

XXXVIII. Intersection with Minimum Wage and Labor Standards

When a child is lawfully employed, the child is still a worker entitled to labor protections.

The employer must comply with applicable rules on wages, rest, safety, and humane working conditions. The child cannot be paid less simply because of minority, unless a specific lawful training or apprenticeship framework applies and is valid.

Illegal employment does not erase the child’s right to compensation. A child unlawfully employed may still be entitled to unpaid wages or benefits.

XXXIX. Child Labor and Poverty

Philippine child labor law recognizes that poverty is a major cause of child labor, but poverty does not make exploitative labor lawful.

The proper response is to remove the child from harmful work while assisting the family through education, livelihood, social welfare, and community support.

Punishing children or ignoring family hardship would be inconsistent with the protective purpose of the law. The law seeks to stop exploitation while addressing root causes.

XL. Conclusion

Child labor law in the Philippines is built on a clear principle: children must be protected from work that harms their life, safety, health, morals, education, dignity, or development.

Children below 15 generally cannot be employed, except in narrowly defined and strictly regulated circumstances. Children 15 to below 18 may work only in non-hazardous conditions and within legal limits. All children below 18 are absolutely protected from hazardous work, forced labor, trafficking, prostitution, pornography, illicit activities, and other worst forms of child labor.

The law applies not only to formal employers but also to recruiters, contractors, parents, guardians, managers, agencies, online facilitators, and any person who causes, permits, or benefits from unlawful child labor.

At its core, Philippine child labor law is not simply a labor regulation. It is a child protection system. Its purpose is to ensure that children are not deprived of their childhood, education, dignity, health, and future.