More than 22,000 CL workers regularized CDC: Clark heritage sites, trees will be preserved
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO - Some 22,699 workers were voluntarily regular ized by 246 establishments from different parts of Central Luzon, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said Tuesday.
DOLERegional Director Atty. Ana Dione said the regional office’s latest scorecard in reducing illegal contracting, “endo,” and labor-only contracting (LOC) covers Calendar Year (CY) 2017 and the last few months of CY-2016.
“Our sights remained focused in carrying out Labor Secretary Silvestre
Bello III’s marching orders under the department’s commitment to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte’s directive to eliminate illegal forms of contracting, ‘endo,’ labor-only contracting, and other similar work arrangements,” Dione said.
Of the total workers regularized, some
12,689 workers were regularized in CY-2017 by around 141 establishments under the encouragement and assessment of the DOLE regional and field offices.
The remaining workers, on the other hand, were regularized by 105 firms within the last few months of CY-2016 upon the assumption of the
new administration.
Dione reported to Bello that the regional and field offices continued to adopt various strategies in its pursuit to eliminate illegal contracting, “endo”and LOC schemes.
“We have dispatched 24 labor laws compliance offices to hold
CLARK FREEPORT — — The Clark Development Corporation (CDC) has assured that trees and heritage sites inside the Freeport will be preserved.
Noel Tulabut, manager of the CDC Communications Department, said the preservation of trees and heritage areas are included in the thrust of the state-owned firm.
“CDC would like to assure the public that the trees and heritage sites inside the Clark Freeport are preserved as this is among the primordial thrust of the corporation,” Tulabut stated.
To preserve the trees, especially century-old acacias, the Environmental Permits Division of CDC is conducting regular monitoring and tree surgery, according to him.
“It is also the CDC’s policy that no trees are cut without securing approval from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR),” Tulabut said.
When necessary, CDC usually undertakes earth balling even if it is expensive just to preserve the affected areas, he added.
At the same time, CDC has a standing policy that all historical and heritage sites inside the Freeport are being preserved, Tulabut said.
“These include barn houses, markets, and other structures that have significant historical values,” he said.
Angeles City Councilor Jesus “Jay” Sangil earlier urged the CDC and the Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA) to preserve the century-old trees and historical sites inside the freeport.
Sangil, chair of the Angeles City Council committee on Clark Economic Zone, disclosed that hundreds of century-old acacia trees and historical sites should not be sacrificed because of development.
assessments to establishments, principals, and contractors to determine their compliance with General Labor Standards (GLS) and Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) standards, and more importantly, to determine which among them are practicing prohibited working arrangements,” Dione said.
Various leading industries operating within and outside of the region’s Freeport and Economic Zones were covered under the DOLE’s region wide assessments mandated by its Labor Laws Compliance System.
Firms found to be engaging in labor-only contracting and similar forms of work arrangements were subjected to mandatory conferences and were assisted in complying with GLS and OSH standards.
Of the total regularized workers, Dione reported to Bello that 16,286 of them were voluntarily regularized by 145 establishments which took initiative to support the government’s war on “endo” schemes.
The remaining 6,413 workers, on the other hand, were regularized by 101 establishments after being issued Compliance Orders by the DOLE regional office.
Dione, who thanked complying establishments for their support and cooperation, urged more firms to follow suit in regularizing their workers.
“We would like to give our warmest thanks to our partners from the private sector in heeding our call to regularize their workers. Security of tenure continues to be a prevailing concern for workers as well as their families. Having permanent jobs or livelihood for them will enable them to be more productive, thus, will be good for business,” Dione said.
“We are hoping that more establishments will also realize the benefits of regularizing their workers, who are deemed necessary in their day to day operations,” she added.— Jerry Borja/ DOLE-3 LCO