ILOILO CITY — The top official of the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) office here urged employers in Western Visayas to provide their employees security of tenure because that is the “call of the President.”
Speaking during Tuesday’s Labor Day program held at the Mary Mart Mall here, DOLE 6 (Western Visayas) Director Johnson Cañete said they already have instructions to submit the names of companies that practice labor-only contracting scheme.
“I will take this opportunity also to bring to the crowd, especially listening employers, that there is a need for us to voluntarily regularize our workers,” Cañete said.
He said that nationwide, they have been ordered to submit not just those with proof – companies that have been inspected and met for mandatory conference — but also those that are suspected of being engaged in labor-only contracting.
He also said that “management and labor should be partners in the world of work.”
“You should have a day-to-day existence, co-partnering, so that we will be able to evolve as a better economy in the country,” he stated.
As of the end of the first quarter of this year, DOLE has recorded 4,612 workers who have been regularized and aims for 15,000 by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Tuesday’s job fair drew 54 local and overseas placement companies that made available nearly 16,500 vacancies.
Cañete said that unlike last year when DOLE set a hired-on-the-spot target, this year, they wanted employers to hire not just for the purpose of reporting.
“We want more sincere employees. (President) Duterte is very strong on contractualization,” he pointed out.
The Labor Day activity in this city kicked off with the “Walk-for-a-Cause” as a way of raising awareness on the need to respond to child labor.
“This morning’s Walk for a Cause, although child labor has already been a problem, we still continue to bring about awareness advocacy that we should stop child labor in the country,” he said.
He cited that Western Visayas belongs to the country’s top five regions in terms of child labor.
This year’s celebration of Labor Day is anchored on the theme, “Pagpupugay sa Manggagawang Pilipino: Dangal ng Lahi, Kabalikat sa Pagbabago!” (Perla Lena/PNA)
