Two inn workers in Iligan City were able to get their monetary claims from their previous employer through the assistance of the Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office No. 10 (DOLE-10) Lanao del Norte Provincial Field Office (LDN PFO).
In a report this week, DOLE-10 said the workers filed a Request for Assistance (RFA) to their field office through the Single Entry Approach (SEnA) program for payment of their monetary claims from their previous employer on 13 June 2023.
DOLE-10 LDN PFO OIC-Chief lawyer Safrali Cabili said the complainants Caroline Ligutom and Redjien Japana, with their former employers/inn owners, cooperatively went to DOLE-X LDN PFO for the scheduled mandatory conciliation-mediation conference on 19 June 2023. He said his staff and Single Entry Approach Desk Officer (SEADO) Annie Raidah Mua attended to the request.
The complainants both voluntarily resigned from the said inn and requested their last salaries, proportionate 13th-month and separation pay, and Social Security System (SSS) unremitted contributions.
Upon the employers’ computations, with DOLE-10’s affirmation, both parties immediately and amicably settled the request. Ligutom received PhP 40,000 and Japana got PhP 50,000 paid to them in cash right after the conference by their employers.
Mua highlighted the importance of labor standards and the need for establishments to comply, which both parties greatly appreciated, especially on the speedy resolution.
“Thank you DOLE kay paspas ang proseso ug nakuha namo dayon ang dapat nga para sa amoa,” Ligutom said.
[Thank you DOLE for the quick action because we could immediately claim what is due for us.]
“Nalipay ko na diri na-aksyonan sa DOLE ang among problema. Salamat kaayo sa DOLE,” Japana said likewise.
[I am grateful for the prompt facilitation in assisting our concerns. Thank you DOLE.]
The inn owners lauded DOLE-10 for the fair, orderly, and constructive process with no undesirable exchanges by both parties during the conference.
Cabili emphasized the need for workers to express their labor-related problems at the right forum to settle plant-level concerns to attain industrial peace. He also stressed the public’s awareness of the department’s programs and services should include information to access the same.
SEnA is an administrative approach of the department to provide a speedy, impartial, inexpensive, and accessible settlement procedure for all issues or complaints arising from employer-employee relations to prevent them from ripening into full-blown disputes. Under this approach, all labor and employment disputes shall undergo a 30-day mandatory conciliation-mediation process to effect settlement among the contending parties.
NRM/DOLE-X Lanao del Norte Provincial Field Office
