DOLE deputizes Bicol media as labor complaint desks

LEGAZPI CITY, Aug. 19 (PNA)-– Media outlets like local newspaper publications as well as radio and television stations are now deputized receiving desks for labor complaints in the Bicol region.

This developed following the recent launching by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) regional office here of DAMA-Bicol, a pet project aimed at improving the agency’s labor relations services in the region by forging a partnership with the tri-media in gathering labor complaints.

“It is not popular native board game but DAMA in this case stands for DOLE and Media Alliance for a better Bicol,” Labor regional director Alvin Villamor on Wednesday said.

The DAMA Project will give authority to radio, TV stations and other media outlets to receive labor complaints, whether anonymous or not, document it, and channel these complaints to the DOLE-Regional Office for appropriate action, Villamor said.

Upon receiving the complaints, DOLE-Bicol will then send out an inspection team to the concerned establishment for verification.

“This way, we will be saving on manpower and financial resources by going directly to problematic establishments. The response time will be much faster and the complaints will be accurate,” he said.

DAMA will also address DOLE-Bicol’s stalemate problem of having no complainant as the agency’s regional chief clarified that in routine inspections, employees most of the times are hesitant to disclose information or open up their complaints or query because of fear.

“The scenario is like this. We receive an anonymous complaint from the media, we go to the place then finds nothing because the employees are afraid. With DAMA all this will be changed.” Villamor said.

For checks and balances and to eliminate prank complaints, DOLE-Bicol will provide a Two-fold Uniform Complaint Sheet Query Form (TUSOC-Q) which will be accomplished by the media who receive complains and counter-signed by the media outlet’s station manager.

The TUSOC-Q form will contain the complaint details like cell phone number of complainants, establishments name, major complaint or query, time the complaint was received and if possible name of the complainant, he added.

Meanwhile, DOLE is intensifying its campaign towards gender equality in the workplace in response to the demand of the Filipino workforce to address issues concerning gender and discrimination against women, lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgenders (LGBTs).

The campaign is in line with the 22-point labor and employment agenda of President Benigno Aquino III that highlight the promotion and protection of workers’ rights, according to Villamor.

“Through the leadership of DOLE Sec. Rosalinda Baldoz, the labor department will continue to develop and find new ways to bring forth solutions in addressing the gender issues in the workplace,” Villamor said.

He quoted Baldoz as saying that “although much has been already achieved in the country’s struggle for gender equality and fairness over the years, much, still has to be done. The pressing issue of discrimination against women and LGBTs has to be remedied.”

One immediate concern that the DOLE works on is “meritocracy” that provides hiring of applicants and promoting employees on the basis of their qualifications, abilities and merits relating to the performance of their jobs and not on the basis of gender, sex, creed, beliefs and nationality, Villamor said.

Employers should provide for a policy on this issue as part of the DOLE’s desire to eliminate discrimination in the workplace, he said.

This effort is the first step in promoting equal rights for women, LGBTs and other workers affected by discrimination in the Philippines, the regional DOLE chief added.

To achieve this, he said the agency is initiating a series of for a on the topic, “Working World Trialogue Series 10.10 Discrimination in the Workplace: Beyond the Stereotypes.”

This initiative has already achieved considerable success in bringing together a unique mix of gender experts, workers’ groups, employers and civil society to discuss issues confronting the workplace on rights at work, employment opportunities, social protection and social dialogue, Villamor said.

Speakers and resource personalities representing a diverse range of stakeholders like government to trade unions and employer groups participate in this activities to shed light to the burning issues of gender-based discrimination in the workplace, he said.

Representatives from the International Labor Organization (ILO), Philippine Commission on Women, UP-Manila Center for Gender and Women’s Studies, Rainbow Rights Alliance, People Management Association of the Philippines, Center for Migrant Advocacy, PS-Link, Akbayan, and Ang Ladlad are also regular participants, Villamor added.

“We are now in the process of organizing other fora of this type in Bicol as part of the measures to bridge the gap between the genders and bring about gender equality in the workplace,” he revealed. (PNA) –Danny O. Calleja