DOLE should help small entrepreneurs

The mission of the Department of Labor and Employment, including its satellite agencies, is to help employees and employers on three specific thrusts: promotion of employment, workers' protection, and preservation of industrial peace (including expeditious and inexpensive labor-dispute settlement). Every Secretary of Labor has his or her own bias that leads to more emphasis on one of the three missions. During the time of Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, the stress was on employment generation. Thus, hundreds of job fairs were organized and reported to have led to the hiring of thousands of applicants, including new entrants into the labor force, and those going abroad for foreign employment. Baldoz was aggressive in pushing for employment generation, a top agenda of the PNoy administration.

During the terms of Secretary Franklin Drilon, Bienvenido Laguesma, and later of Arturo Brion, the stress was on industrial peace and the labor dispute settlement systems. The current administration is focused on workers' protection. The regional offices are being pressured by the DOLE head office to conduct daily inspections, site visits, and joint assessment of all establishments. The DOLE hired hundreds of new inspectors and these new hirees, called Labor Law Compliance Officers, or LLCOs are very active in making sure all employers fully comply with three aspects: general labor standards (including wages and benefits), occupational safety and health standards, and security of tenure (this is new). This last one concerns the presidential drive against ''5-5-5'' and ''endo''.

The problem is when inspectors and LLCOs exceed the bounds of the powers of inspection and make the small businessmen feel that they are being harassed. The small, mediumscale and micro enterprises constitute more than 85 percent of our employers' sector. They are the backbone of our economy. They give the first crack of employment to unskilled, semi-skilled, and inexperienced new entrants into the labor markets. They train young workers and prepare them for bigger roles. Thus, they are performing a very important role in our economy. But, as of today, these small enterprises are feeling harassed by DOLE inspectors who do not seem to distinguish between the incorrigibly notorious violators of labor laws and the inexperienced, struggling entrepreneurs. Some myopic DOLE LLCOs are killing these small enterprises, and are unwittingly driving investors away.

My advice to these people, as a former DOLE Undersecretary, is to distinguish between those who blatantly violate labor standards with malice, and those who just are inexperiencedanduninformed.DOLEshouldhelpthem,notharass them. Those who feel harassed should call me, and I will make sure the abusive LLCOs should be disciplined and punished if they commit malfeasance and misfeasance in the performance of their jobs. We have a very fair Secretary of DOLE, Bebot Bello III. We have an excellent Regional Director Engineer Ely Cayanong, and the Tri-City Director Lilia Estillore. If there are people under them who seem to abuse their authority, please contact this column and we shall do something to help you. DOLE should help enterprises who generate employment. They should not kill the goose that lays the golden eggs.