Tego's for the children

On Friday, Tego Calderon announced that has joined forces with Puerto Rico's Coalicion Pro-Defensa de los Ninos (the Coalition in Defense of Children), an organization that seeks to fight child endangerment, neglect, and abuse by exhorting all citizens (particularly teachers, doctors, and neighbors of possible victims) to come forward and report any incidents of potential abuse.

It's not a suprising move from the father of Ebony and Malcolm, who has often used his celebrity to speak out about social injustices (months ago, he denounced the conditions in Sierra Leone and swore he would no longer wear any bling — a promise he's kept thus far).

What IS interesting is that Tego has been working alongside the organization CHILD and senator Carnmelo Rios to create awareness for the need to reform PR's legal system so as to establish the option of shared parental custody. In PR, almost 15,000 marriages end up in divorce on an annual basis — in almost all cases where children are involved, full custody is granted to the mother. Tego had to deal with this situation first-hand with his daughter Ebony's mother. His frustration over not being able to see his daughter as much as he'd desired (and over the games his ex played by denying him access to his daughter) are documented in songs like "Oh, Dios" (off The Underdog).

In the press conference, Tego stated that he had often worried about the people his daughter met on the street and that his inability to watch over her scared him.

To find out more about the organization visit, www.childpr.org