Hello guys! Last night, I was awakened up by a call from our office, and my officemate told me that I have a client. I saw the time on my phone, it was 1:00 am. I hurriedly dressed up and went to our office afterward. When I arrived at the police station, I saw three children, ages from 12 to 16 years old. The kids look tired and sleepy.
I immediately get my pen and my paper pad and started to interview the kids. Upon interview, I learned that the kids came from a nearby town. I will hide the true identity of the kids for confidentiality. Let’s call them Greg, 12 years od, Tim, 14 years old and Roger, 16 years old. They lived in a barangay and were neighbors and playmates. They decided to get a summer job in the city so that they can buy some school supplies and uniforms for the upcoming school year. So, they get permission from their parents, and because of poverty, they were permitted by their parents to get a summer job.
The kids went to the city, and they stayed at the boarding house of one of the relatives of Tim who was working in a mall. They immediately look for a job, and luckily they were hired. The employer hired Greg and Tim as a car wash boy and Roger as a helper on the store. They feel so happy and excited to start their new job.
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After they get hired, their employer told them that they will stay on their house and could already start on their job of the following day. On the first day, the works were so easy and they work for only 8 hours, from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm. And they were properly fed by their employer. After 5 days, Roger was given an additional tasked, to lift and to carry some sack of rice and cases of soft drinks, while Greg and Tim were instructed that they must immediately report to the store to help Roger from his works after their work at the car wash shop. They work until the store closed at around 10 pm. They were exhausted from their work.
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The routine of their works continues until they decided to stop to work and go back home because they cannot anymore endure the heavy works given to them by their employer. But when they were about to asks permission to leave from their employer and asks their salary, the employer told them that, he will give it only after 30 days. They must continue to work for 30 days.
When they heard what their employer said unto them, they were disappointed and helpless that no one could help them to get out from the hands of their employer. They have no communications with their parents because they have no cellphones. The worst, they were not allowed to go outside. At night, they were all silently cried in their room praying and hoping they could get back home.
One day, Roger asks a help from their neighbor who was a male teacher. The teacher feels pity for them and helps them to escape. After the kids work on that day, they packed their belongings, and they carefully hide it on a grassy vacant lot near the house of their employer. At 12:00 am, when they know that their employer together with their co-workers was already asleep, they immediately went outside and directly go to the teacher's house, and there and then, the teacher brought them to our office.
After I heard their story, I immediately contact the social worker, in order to give the children a shelter to stay on that night, but the social worker phone is out of coverage. I then instructed Roger to go with me to the place wherein they hide their bags. When we returned to the office, Greg and Tim were so happy and they thank me, for helping them.
They sleep on the office that night with a smile on their face. In the morning, I feed them. No social worker could assist the children’s needs because the social worker who was in charge of them was on leave. The social worker in our place cannot be reached at night and in a weekend and we don’t have any facilities for children who have been rescued. That’s my big problem. What I did, I returned the children to their parents and tell them what had happened to them. The kids were so happy when they saw their parent. They thank me again for helping them. I just smiled at them and told them it’s my job to help and protect them. Before I leave, I reminded the parents to go to our office in order to help them to file a formal complaint against the employer for violation of child labor and child abuse law. As I was on our way to the office, I was hoping the parents of the kids will decide to file a case against the abusive employer and the social worker would help them to give a livelihood ssistance.
