| (Message of the President to the Senate, together with the draft Senate Resolution of Concurrence)
MALACAŅANG
Manila
7 July 1997
The Honorable
The Members of the Senate
Manila
Sir/Madam:
In the context of our social Reform Agenda and our national effort to attain global competitiveness, I wish to invite the Senate's attention to Philippine ratification of the ILO Minimum Age Convention 1973 (ILO Convention 138).
Entitled "Convention Concerning Minimum Age for Admission to Employment", this convention drawn up by the International labour Organization seeks to abolish child labour and progressively raise the minimum age for admission to employment, covering all sectors of the economy.
These principal undertakings prescribed by the Convention complement and strengthen Philippine obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child as well as the mandates of the 1987 Constitution, the Labour Code, the Child and Youth Welfare Code, the Child Protection Code, the Revised Penal Code, and the Act Prohibiting the Employment of Children below 15 years of age in public and private undertakings.
Our ratification of this Convention will provide additional and unmistakeable indication of Philippine adherence to internationally accepted labour standards, even through our municipal laws provide more stringent requirements, for against the current backdrop of economic globalization, other nations tend to look at our observance of such standards from the perspective of international legal commitments.
More importantly, and in tandem with our over-all poverty alleviation and social reform efforts, the added effect of this Convention in strengthening our national resolve to save our children from sweatshops, beggary and other means of increasing capability and competence, will redound to the long-term competitiveness of our nation.
Article 12 of the Convention provides that it shall enter into force for any ILO member twelve (12) months after the date on which the member's ratification has been registered.
Pursuant to Section 21, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution, I hereby submit, for your consideration, the ILO Minimum Age Convention 1973 (ILO Convention 138).
A draft of the Senate Resolution giving its concurrence in the ratification of the Convention, together with one (1) certified true copy and twenty-seven (27) additional copies of the said Convention are also enclosed.
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