ILOILO City – A total of 4,612 workers in Western Visayas have been regularized in the first quarter of 2018 as the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Region 6 steps up its campaign to end “labor-only” contracting in the region.
In Antique alone, about 3,126 workers were voluntarily regularized by a mining company based on Semirara Island and by its two contractors.
The remaining were voluntarily regularized by hotels, resorts and restaurants as well as establishments engaged in wholesale and retail business in Iloilo, Negros Occidental, and Capiz.
DOLE-6 has been continuously conducting consultations, orientations and seminars on matters involving “endo” and contractualization as a means to educate employers and gain their support to eliminate “labor-only” contracting and other prohibited work practices.
DOLE-6 region director Atty. Johnson Cañete emphasized that the agency’s strengthened campaign for employer awareness and voluntary regularization is slowly paying off as shown by the number of regularized workers for the first quarter of the year.
Cañete said that the DOLE is positive that it will deliver its commitment of 15,000 regularized workers by the end of December 2018.
He further emphasized that this target will be achieved through the active involvement of business establishments in the Region and sustained inspection of establishments, principals, and contractors that are practicing “endo” and “labor-only” contracting arrangements./PN
