SAYING child care is Quezon City’s “critical” concern, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista on Thursday vowed to promote children’s rights.
He lauded the city council for the passage of a landmark measure in 2012—the Quezon City Children’s Code—that has provided continuing support for various child-friendly programs and earmarked one percent of the Internal Revenue Allotment for the city’s local development plan for children.
“In fact, we have allocated more than that for the actual programs. Out of our city budget of P17.53 billion in 2016, including the special education fund, our city government has allotted an aggregate of P2.525 billion, or 14.4 percent of the city funds for programs for children,” Bautista said.
He said the city government has made investments in children’s survival, education, protection from abuse and violence, and even youth participation.
According to Bautista, 20 percent of the city’s child population is younger than 10 years old, and 30 percent is younger than 15 years.
City health officials have implemented programs to promote child birth, he said. “Even from the time they are in the womb, the city wants to ensure that babies are born full term, healthy and wanted.”
Maternal mortality rate has dropped substantially from 54.91 per 100,000 live births to 49 percent per 100,000 in 2016, Bautista noted.
As for child education, 64.3 percent of children aged five years and older have attended preschool, with 294 public day-care centers being managed by the city’s Social Services and Development Department taking care of 23,420 children in 2016.
Bautista said enrollment participation rate was recorded at 95.43 percent for elementary level and 85.9 percent for secondary level, both in public and private schools.
However, the mayor voiced concern for students enrolled in senior high school.
“I am also worried about the status of our public school children enrolled in senior high school. Those purpose of this program is to prepare them for work life, with college education no longer a necessity but an option. Our city council has made an extensive study of the K-to-12 program, including inadequate machinery and equipment support necessary to supplement theoretical studies,” he said.
The mayor said protection from abuse and violence is another “urgent” concern of the city government. QC has thus put up a unified referral system for children in need of special protection and children in conflict with the law.
He said a child representative sits as a member of the 36-member Quezon City Council for the Protection of Children for the city’s 142 barangays.