3,500 workers regularized in Bicol – DOLE5

LEGAZPI CITY --- The Department of Labor and Employment in Bicol (DOLE-5) registered a 265-percent increase in the number of contractual workers regularized in the region after 3,599 workers secured regular posts for the first three months of 2019.

The figure is almost threefold of the 1,356 workers regularized during the first quarter of 2018.

Of the number, 3,472 were regularized voluntarily by their employers while 127 were through inspections conducted by the labor department.

“This is part of the 10-point agenda of President Rodrigo Duterte to put an end to prohibited contractual arrangements in the country,” said Alvin M. Villamor, DOLE regional director.

“DOLE-5 has recorded 140 establishments in all provinces of Bicol that regularized their workers from January to March 2019. At least 11 companies regularized their employees upon visit by the agency’s inspectors, while 129 establishments did it voluntarily,” he added.

DOLE-5 is appealing to employers to submit their roster of employees and voluntarily regularize their workers under contractual arrangements.

Villamor said that as part of the advocacy to stop the “endo” (end of contract) scheme and promote regularization in the region, the department highlights the policy whenever there are labor management fora, wage consultation meetings and other labor-related activities.

“We want to stop the practice of illegal contractualization by promoting voluntary regularization of workers as our developmental approach and strategy that we employ in the region,” he said.

Apart from this, the labor department conducts routine inspections where private establishments’ compliance with labor laws and social legislation is evaluated through a prescribed inspection checklist.

“We reach out to the employers to comply and work with us to uplift the lives of the Bicolano workers,” Villamor said. (PIA-5)