LA TRINIDAD, Benguet – Representative Ronald Cosalan is on the verge of calling for an investigation if only to find a solution to the Lepanto Consolidated Mining Corporation (LCMC) problem.
Cosalan said the long drawn problem of unpaid wages need an immediate solution. “We will call for an investigation of the matter and are just waiting for feedback.”
Cosalan said a meeting with Mankayan Mayor Materno Luspian is scheduled to inquire about the action plan the local chief executive has for the company and its thousands of employees.
Cosalan is vice chairman of the Committee on Labor and Employment which presides on all matters directly and principally relating to labor.
The committee also tackles the advancement and protection of the rights and welfare of workers, employment and manpower development inclusive of the promotion of industrial peace and employer-employee cooperation, labor education, labor standards and statistics, and the organization and development of the labor market including the recruitment, training and placement of manpower, here and abroad.
The congressman will wait for the meeting with Luspian and word from Governor Nestor Fongwan on the matter.
Cosalan said “It has been a long problem for them [workers], it is time to talk about it openly.”
Fongwan has long urged LCMC to settle financial problems with over 1,000 employees of the mining company.
Meanwhile, the Lepanto Employees Union has opted to patiently wait for the payment of wages due them rather than go on strike rationalizing a strike would be more detrimental for employees.
Reports allege that unpaid wages of employees have reached P265 million with payments made in installments. LCMC woes started in the last quarter of 2008, with SSS and Pag-ibig backlogs compounding financial woes.