10,432 vacancies on Labor Day job fair in CAR
THE MULTIFARIOUS FACETS OF DOLE. Heads of attached agencies of the Department of Labor and Employment-Cordillera (DOLE-CAR) detail the accomplishments of their respective offices and organizations during the Kapihan sa Baguio on Labor and Employment Concerns held on May 4, 2022 at the DOLE-CAR Conference Hall, led by DOLE-CAR director Nathaniel V. Lacambra (seated, middle), flanked by PRC Director Juanita Domogen; OWWA-CAR OIC Director Edgar Melchor P. Laigo; NRCO Regional Coordinator Esmeralda P. Butic; RTWPB-CAR Board Secretary Marvie Fulgencio; OCHC-CAR Public Information Officer Regine B. Blas; NCMB Regional Branch Director Lourdes P. Estioco; ECC-REU-CAR Information Officer Dennis Garret R. Lee; and DOLE-CAR ARD Anthony A. Wooden, Jr. (photo by Merriam del Rosario, FNS)
BAGUIO CITY — A total of 10,432 job vacancies, local and overseas, were posted by 34 employers in the region during the Labor Day job fair held at the Baguio Convention Center on May 1, 2022.
Of the 4,720 vacancies for local employment, 22 applicants were hired on the spot, 11 males and 11 females.
Some 561 jobseekers for local employment and around 302 for overseas were classified as “near hired” for the lack of additional requirements needed or further tests or interviews required.
Department of Labor and Employment-Cordillera Administrative Region (DOLE-CAR) Director Nathaniel V. Lacambra in a media presser on May 4, 2021 said that the current employment picture improved as establishments are now being allowed to open.
Lacambra also said he sees a pre-pandemic picture with the reduced employment rate of 5.3 percent and with most of the region being on Alert Level 1.
“We are very hopeful that very soon we are able to recover, as far as business and employment climate are concerned,” Lacambra said.
Lacambra reported that an Independence Day job fair will be held on June 12, 2022 and was hoping for another one in December, to coincide with the labor department’s 89th founding anniversary.
The Labor Day job fair was the second face-to-face job fair conducted since pandemic was declared in 2020.
With regards to the department’s programs and projects, Lacambra said that they were able to service 141,709 beneficiaries of the Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged Workers (TUPAD) and had disbursed over PhP840M in salaries in 2021.
For 2022, the department is targeting at least 200 thousand TUPAD beneficiaries and PhP1.2B in benefits.
During the first quarter of 2022, over PhP94M in salaries was disbursed to 17,464 TUPAD beneficiaries.
TUPAD beneficiaries are the displaced or disadvantaged workers, or previous beneficiaries who qualify as displaced or disadvantaged.
Lacambra said that Barangay officials, Barangay tanods, Barangay health workers, and 4Ps beneficiaries are not qualified beneficiaries of the TUPAD program.
Other programs and projects of the department continued implementation throughout the pandemic, exceeding targets, benefiting at least 112,168 individuals in 2021, which include the Special Program for Employment of Students (SPES), the Public Employment Service (PES), and the DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program (DILP).
Lacambra also reported that the department has collected more than PhP2.2M in Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) funds representing fines collected from erring contractors in 2021 until the first quarter of 2022.
“If you notice, there has been an improvement in the work sites. We now seldom see workers in slippers, workers without skull guard and without visibility vest, especially in the downtown area, and more often than not, we see them in their protective clothing,” Lacambra said.
Lacambra said that the DOLE had probably helped to a certain degree due to the hefty fines that erring contractors had to render as a consequence of their action.
DOLE is calling on all employers to comply with the general labor and occupational safety and health standards.
“Safety Officers and First Aiders should be physically present on site. The mere approval of the company’s construction safety and health program does not complete the requirement,” Lacambra said.
DOLE-CAR assistant regional director Anthony A. Wooden, Jr. reported that labor inspection conducted by the department on 780 establishments as of May 4, 2022 showed that 93.08 percent employers were compliant to General Labor Standards and 77.05 percent to Occupational Safety and Health Standards (OSHS).
According to Wooden, the top five common violations of general labor standards committed by employers included underpayment of wages, underpayment or non-payment of overtime pay, underpayment or non-payment of holiday pay, underpayment or non-payment of rest day premium, and non-payment of night shift differential.
As to the occupational safety and health standards, the top four common violations included no Occupational Safety and Health Program, no Safety Officers and First Aiders, no First Aid Kits, and not registered with DOLE under Rule 1020 of the OSHS.
With the advent of the newly created Department of Migrant Workers (DOMW) which is expected to start operations by 2023, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), both attached agencies of DOLE, will be under the new department’s wing, along with the International Labor Affairs Bureau of DOLE, and the Office of the Undersecretary for Migrant Workers affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).
“At the moment, we take advantage of the OWWA’s and POEA’s services while they are still with us, although we are strengthening our ties so that if our agency (DOLE) will be needing their services pertaining to migrant workers in the future, ay madali pa rin silang malapitan,” Lacambra said.
DOLE has seven agencies attached, which includes the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC), the Regional Tripartite Wage and Productivity Board (RTWPD), the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), OWWA / National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC), the Employees’ Compensation Commission (ECC), and the POEA. ###
