Section 8Sec./Art. 8

Implementing Government Agencies as Duty Bearers. The provisions of this Act shall be fully and promptly implemented by the following government departments and agencies within their respective jurisdictions:

(a) DSWD shall take the lead in the implementation of this Act and create programs that will address the prevalence of child marriage and provide appropriate services, including but not limited to legal services, health services, psychosocial services, counseling, educational, livelihood and skills development, temporary shelter and all other assistance necessary to protect victims of child marriage and their offspring. It shall include awareness campaigns on the negative effects of child marriage;

(b) Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) shall work closely with the DSWD in strengthening policies and creating programs to prohibit and end child marriage. It shall include the advocacy to prevent child marriage in the Philippine Plan of Action to End Violence Against Children (PPAEVAC);

(c) Department of Justice (DOJ) shall ensure that the penal provisions of this Act are carried out and provide access to justice and legal services to victims through the Public Attorneys Office (PAO);

(d) Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) shall institute a systematic information and prevention campaign against child marriage through barangay-level education programs and initiatives that are culturally-sensitive and child-centered. The DILG shall also mandate local government units (LGUs) to provide basic intervention for the rescue, recovery, rehabilitation and support of victim of child marriages and their offspring; and establish a system of reporting cases of child marriage;

(e) Department of Education (DepEd) shall include culturally-sensitive and age-appropriate modules and discussions on the impacts and effects of the child marriage in its comprehensive sexuality education curriculum;

(f) Department of Health (DOH) shall ensure access to health services for the prevention of child marriage by providing sexual and reproductive health services and mental health services for children in child marriages, and appropriate health services for their offspring;

(g) Supreme Court of the Philippines shall organize training programs for all relevant courts on the prevention of child marriage and other provisions of this Act and shall ensure strict application of the law and its interpretation in the best interests of the child;

(h) Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) shall integrate dissemination of the provisions of this Act in programs on public awareness and behavior-change communications;

(i) Commission on Human Rights (CHR) shall monitor the implementation of this Act as Gender Ombud and through its Child Rights Center/Desk;

(j) National Commission on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) shall include in its program of action awareness-raising campaigns within Muslim communities on the impacts and effects of child marriage in the overall health and development of children, monitor and report cases of child marriages in communities under its jurisdiction, ensure the faithful implementation of this Act and its interpretation in the best interests of the child; and

(k) National Commission for Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) shall include in its program of action awareness-raising campaigns within indigenous cultural communities/indigenous peoples on the impacts and effects of child marriage in the overall health and development of children, monitor and report cases of child marriages in communities under its jurisdiction, ensure the faithful implementation of this Act and its interpretation in the interests of the child.