Mindanao consultation for labor and employment summit strengthens DOLE’s social dialogue policy

Davao City (27 October) — From 27-28 October, Davao will host over a hundred representatives from the Regional Development Councils (RDCs), Regional Coordinating Councils (RCCs), Regional Tripartite Industrial Peace Councils (RTIPCs), chambers of commerce and industries, the youth sector, and civil society from all over Mindanao for the second leg of the Department of Labor and Employment’s nationwide consultations for the multi-partite National Summit on Labor and Employment (NLSE) on 01 December 2010.

Labor and Employment Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz, International Labor Organization (ILO) country manager for the Philippines Lawrence Jeff Johnson, officials of the International Organization for Migration, United Nations Population Fund, United Nations Children’s Fund, and all DOLE regional directors from Regions 9-12, ARMM, and CARAGA will grace the activity.

“As in the Luzon leg of the pre-summit consultation held in Clark Field, Pampanga last week, this activity strengthens our policy of expanded social dialogue and tripartism, a key reform measure in pursuit of the 22-point labor and employment agenda of President Benigno S. Aquino III,” said Baldoz on the eve of the consultations.

The pre-consultation, said Baldoz, aims to gather inputs from its regional social partners and stakeholders towards the formulation, validation, and presentation of the 2011-2016 Labor and Employment Agenda as an input to the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan for 2011 to 2016.

“We envision the Labor and Employment Agenda to outline labor and employment strategies, policies, programs, and activities that will support efforts in translating the development agenda of President Benigno S. Aquino III in the next six years, as contained in his Social Contract with the Filipino people, which seeks to expand employment opportunities and ensure that the expansion of jobs translates to reduction of the people’s poverty,” Baldoz said.

In the Davao consultation, a day will be devoted to youth issues, such as youth unemployment, career guidance, skills-jobs mismatch, and decent jobs as alternative to migration.

On the second day, the ILO’s Mr. Johnson will talk about the ILO Jobs Pact and the technical assistance the organization will provide the Philippines for its own Jobs Pact. Baldoz, on the other hand, is expected to discuss the DOLE package of reforms and highlight the DOLE’s achievements and progress in carrying out such reforms.

As in the first consultation, the delegates will conduct simultaneous workshops on employment, social welfare and protection, human resource development, and labor relations and labor law reforms, the main pillars on which the DOLE currently anchors its package of reforms based on the 22-point labor and employment agenda.

“The overarching goal of this agenda is in the form of a marching order to the DOLE to invest in our country’s resource, our human resource, to make us more competitive and employable, while promoting industrial peace based on social justice,” Baldoz reiterated.

The theme of the December 1 National Labor and Employment Summit is “Developing our human resources, promoting full and productive employment, and ensuring social protection for all”.

The Summit’ aim is to produce a Human Resource Development Agenda, and to forge a Philippine Jobs Pact toward achieving inclusive growth in the country, the main goal of the Aquino III administration.

In organizing the Summit, the DOLE is guided by the joint statement at the 5th Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Ministerial Meeting on Human Resources Development, which emphasizes the need to devote priority attention to maintaining and expanding employment, improving social safety nets and social protection, enhancing employment assistance for vulnerable groups, and reducing poverty within the purview of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.

After Davao, the consultation will move to Cebu in the Visayas. The DOLE will then conduct integration workshops to consolidate the pre-summit consultation outputs and convene a multi-partite workshops to validate and finalize a draft Philippine Labor and Employment Agenda and the Philippine Jobs Pact.

Baldoz said she will invite President Aquino III to the Summit in December to present to him the Summit results and to witness the signing of the Philippine Jobs Pact by key labor organizations, employer groups, government agencies, civil society organizations, and other institutions.

Baldoz had earlier said that the very nature and character of representation in the nationwide pre-Summit activities already strongly reflects the DOLE’s inclusive dialogue policy.

“In essence this represents the President’s emphasis on public-private sector partnerships (PPPs) to attain economic and employment growth,” she said.