CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — A total of P147.92 million in monetary claims have been received by 6,574 workers, the Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office No. III announced Tuesday, January 21.
The settlement of this amount was facilitated through the Department’s Single Entry Approach (SEnA), a mediation program that aims to provide a faster, fairer, inexpensive resolution of labor issues between employees and employers.
Ma. Zenaida A. Angara-Campita, DOLE 3 Regional Director, reported to Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III that in 2019, DOLE 3 averaged two days in the settlement of various requests for assistance (RFAs), the shortest average process cycle time among regional offices.
“Of the 2,252 total requests filed here in Central Luzon, our Clark Satellite Office settled the highest amount of monetary claims of P65.4 million benefi tting 1,518 workers, followed by Bulacan Field Office with P40.5 million claimed by 1,847 workers,” Angara-Campita mentioned. “Complaints are mostly on underpayment of wages, payment of separation pay and 13th month pay, noncoverage under mandatory social benefits, and termination/ dismissal,” she added.
Tarlac Field Office facilitated settlement of P13.4 million for 874 workers; Zambales Field Office-P9.2 million for 718 workers; Pampanga Field Office-P5.9 million for 432 workers; Nueva Ecija Field Office-P6.8 million for 351 workers; Bataan Field Office-P6 million for 685 workers; and Aurora Field Office-P724,000 for 149 workers.
DOLE Central Luzon also accomplished a 99.2% settlement rate of labor disputes for the year 2019. This high settlement rate can be attributed to the settlement of 2,235 RFAs out of 2,252 RFAs filed. The remaining 14 were referred to NLRC (13 RFAs) and other government agencies (1 RFA) while 3 RFAs were dropped due to lack of interest of the requesting party.
Overall, the 2,252 filed RFAs were all disposed translating to the regional office’s 100% disposition rate.
Angara-Campita lauded and thanked the SEnA desk officers (SEADOs) for doing a great job and continuing to strive for improvement. “From an average of 3.8 days to settle in 2018, our 2019 scorecard has improved to only taking 2 days for a request to be settled on average. This improvement in the process is a result of our SEADOs’ hard work, and due credit is given to all of them,” Angara-Campita added. To file a request for assistance, visit the DOLE Central Luzon’s Official website at http://ro3.dole.gov.ph/ and click the “Contact Us” link for the DOLE 3’s hotline numbers, regional and field offices’ numbers and addresses.
