The Department of Labor and Employment in Davao Region (DOLE-11) has settled PHP173 million worth of monetary claims by 2,081 workers with labor issues in the region last month.
In a statement Tuesday, DOLE-11 Regional Director Randolf Pensoy said they settled 97.05 percent out of the 2,099 Request for Assistance (RFA) as of September 2022.
Pensoy said their achievement is in adherence to their mandate to protect workers’ welfare and maintain industrial peace. “Among the common labor disputes were claims for final pay, underpayment of minimum wage, and illegal dismissal,” Pensoy said.
He said most requests for assistance were handled by the DOLE-11 field offices of Davao City with 976 cases; Davao del Norte, 592; and Davao de Oro, 332.
“We enjoin employers in Davao Region to be (mindful) of the General Labor Standards that is enshrined in the Labor Code of the Philippines to protect the rights and welfare of the workers,” Pensoy said.
Under Republic Act 10396, he said DOLE governs the conduct of a Single-Entry Approach (SEnA), a form of conciliation-mediation intervention for all labor issues arising from labor and employment to prevent them from turning into full-blown labor cases.
“Through an RFA, SEnA extends a speedy, impartial, inexpensive, and accessible settlement procedure within 30 calendar days,” Pensoy said.
He said any aggrieved worker, union, and even an employer may file a request for assistance in the field offices where the employer principally operates.
The mediation-conciliation is administered by a SEnA desk officer who acts as the neutral party to assist the differing parties by giving recommendations and laying out solutions and alternatives to the issues. “The settlement agreements reached are definitive and immediately executory,” Pensoy saId.
Labor disputes settled through SEnA include termination or suspension of employment, claims for any sum of money regardless of amount, intra-union and inter-union issues after exhaustion of administrative remedies, closures, retrenchments, redundancies, and temporary layoffs, among others. (PNA)
