Making Philippine Cities Child-Friendly: Voices of Children in Poor Communities, c2005
Mary Racelis and Angela Desiree M. Aguirre
Institute of Philippine Culture, Ateneo de Manila University
E-mail: mracelis@ateneo.edu, aaguirre@ateneo.edu

This research aims to ascertain the extent to which children were being served by the Child Friendly Cities (CFC) program. It covers five cities with long-established CFC programs; namely, the City of Manila, Pasay City and Quezon City in Metro Manila, Luzon; Cebu City in the Visayas; and Davao City in Mindanao. Intensive case studies were carried out in three of the twenty-seven barangays appraised, and one in Barangay Payatas in Quezon City. Data gathered include participant observation, interviews, focus group discussions and secondary data collection.

The research also discovered that children are the most expressive group of respondents. Findings suggest that many poor children are still deprived of their early childhood care and education, primary and secondary school access, and decent shelter; and children's participation in decision-making are frequently disregarded. Recommendations proposed by children include food and income earning; sufficient numbers of quality schools; clean, healthy and safe neighborhoods with ample playground for children; secure land tenure; control over gang fights and drug distribution; sports, recreational and community clean-up activities for the youth; and better relations between barangay leaders and out-of-school youth.