NEARLY 2,000 workers in Central Visayas in 2022 were awarded work-related conflict settlements worth P44.6 million under the Labor department’s settlement program.
The Department of Labor and Employment-Central Visayas (Dole 7) said 1,983 workers across five of its field offices in Central Visayas benefited from settled requests for assistance (RFAs) filed under the Single Entry Approach (SEnA) program.
The SEnA program is Dole’s process in preventing labor-related conflicts such as unfair job practice, issues in termination or suspension of a worker, claims for any amount of money, business closure, retrenchment, temporary lay-off and many more that could escalate into a full-blown litigation.
Free and speedy
The program provides a free, speedy and non-litigious settlement process between two aggrieved parties: the worker or employer.
“We want to raise awareness among our customers that all employer-employee-related concerns and disputes would really have to go through this mechanism first before anyone could file a formal complaint,” Dole 7 OIC-Director Lilia Estillore said in a statement.
The Tri-City Field Office settled the largest RFAs, awarding 880 workers from the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu monetary settlements amounting to P19 million.
The Negros Oriental Field Office awarded P10.7 million worth of settlements to 449 workers, while 286 workers under the Cebu Provincial Field Office benefited from P7.6 million in settlements from RFAs.
A total of 333 workers in Bohol received P6.5 million worth of settlements and over P422,000 was awarded to 35 affected workers in Siquijor.
Estillore said the agency recorded an average of six days in the settlement of the RFAs against the process cycle of 30 days to settle or dispose of the request.
Republic Act 10396 has institutionalized the SEnA, providing an administrative approach to solve labor-related conflicts.