No Children’s Day 2014 In The Philippines?

I’m asking this question because I did not see any major activity regarding the Children’s Day in the Philippines. I’d checked the website of Department of Social Welfare and Development, Philippine Information Agency and even the Department of Education but I did not see any news nor press release on Children’s Day.

I became aware of this special day for children because of Google’s doodle.

national-childrens-day-2014

Upon checking the site of United Nations, the Children’s Day was first proclaimed in 1925 at the World Conference for the Well-being of Children. “The date 20 November, marks the day on which the Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, in 1959, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, in 1989.”

When is the Children’s Day in the Philippines?

Here in the Philippines, I think there’s a bit of confusion on when is the Children’s Day should be held.

According to the proclamation order no. 74 made by President Fidel V. Ramos in 1992 posted on the website of Philippine Commission on Women, it’s is declaring the 17th day of October  every year as National Children’s Day.

However, on the Press Release dated  January 13, 2013, the Senate declares Nov. 20 as national children’s day.

So which date are we going to follow? It doesn’t really matter to me what is the date as long as we commemorate it by  promoting consciousness over the protection of the rights of Filipino children. If we can promote it throughout the year, why not! For the arguments sake, I think we should follow the latter since it’s coincides with the proclamation of UN Children’s Day too – the November 20 – which is also the day when I saw the Google doodle.

As I’ve mentioned in my opening statement, I did not see any major activities of this special day celebrating the rights of our children. If you will read the Senate press release,

  • Under the bill, the Department of Education (DepEd) shall facilitate and encourage the commemoration of National Children’s Day in all schools, public and private, nationwide while the Philippine Information Agency (PIA), in coordination with the Department of Social Welfare and Development, DepEd, Commission on Higher Education, National Youth Commission and Council for the Welfare of Children will ensure effective information dissemination.

What happened? The very institutions ordered by the Senate did not do anything! At least for this year or I’m not fully aware.  Even the major malls here in our country did not celebrate it. Heck, they were even more aware of Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Thanksgiving Day even if we are not celebrating these “sales” day in our country.

It’s so sad.

I would like to close this post by borrowing the words from UN website:

 Nearly 25 years ago, the world made a promise to children: that we would do everything in our power to protect and promote their rights to survive and thrive, to learn and grow, to make their voices heard and to reach their full potential. In spite of the overall gains, there are many children who have fallen even further behind. Old challenges have combined with new problems to deprive many children of their rights and the benefits of development.

 

I hope next year, we will be more aware of this special day for our children.

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