By Federation of Free Workers president Atty. Sonny Matula
Following the aftermath of yet another super typhoon, we are urging the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) to launch massive post-flood inspections to ensure occupational safety, health and labor standards compliance in workplaces affected by typhoon Uwan.
When floods destroy homes and shut down a number of factories, inspection becomes a matter of life and dignity. Workers need protection, not just relief. ILO (International Labor Organization) Convention 81 and Article 128 give Dole both the power and the duty to act motu proprio. Relief goods help families; inspections save lives — give both.
The call also comes as ILO Convention 81 on Labor Inspection becomes officially effective in the Philippines this November 2025 following ratification and Senate concurrence early this year.
Flooding and contamination from recent storms have heightened the risks of electrocution, exposure to hazardous materials and disease in factories, plants and warehouses. Dole regional offices should proactively inspect worksites for OSH (Occupational Safety and Health) compliance and proper wage payments during temporary shutdowns and rebuilding.
Inspection is not a burden to employers or only about enforcement — it’s an opportunity to provide technical assistance to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) for compliance. Post-Uwan inspections should include practical guidance: on-site OSH mentoring, simple checklists, staggered compliance timelines for feasible fixes and referrals to Occupational Safety and Health Center/National Wages and Productivity Commission for training and wage-and-benefit clarification.
Help them comply, then hold them to it — that’s how we keep small businesses afloat and workers safe.
Inspection is not intimidation — it’s illumination. It shines a light on unsafe wiring, toxic waste, unpaid wages — everything that disasters tend to hide. Post-Uwan, we need massive, surprise inspections — no “paint-and-prepare” days. Real safety is what you do every day, not what you stage for a visitor.
Let us remember the Kentex 72 — the workers who perished in 2015 because inspection failed to see what mattered most: locked gates, unsafe conditions and the silence of neglect. Never again. Inspection must be preventive, not posthumous.
Labor inspection is social justice in action, which echoes the vision of Ramon Magsaysay, the famous guerrilla from Central Luzon who became the seventh President of the Republic and championed social justice for workers and the poor. Those who have less in life should have more in law — and that law must walk into workplaces, not wait at the courthouse. ILO 81 gives the roadmap; Article 128 gives the engine. Now let’s drive it to the factory floor.
At the same time, we lauded Dole 4-B (Mimaropa) for its decisive labor inspection that led to the regularization of more than 600 workers in Palawan who were previously found to be under a labor-only contracting scheme.
We also commended the voluntary regularization of over 70 employees of Cirtek Electronics in Laguna, achieved through bilateral negotiations between Cirtek management and the United Cirtek Employees Association–FFW in the third quarter of 2025.
Two wins, one lesson: Dole 4-B regularized 600+ via enforcement; Cirtek regularized 70+ via dialogue. Enforce when needed, negotiate when possible — protect workers always. Inspection with FIRE — Fairness, Integrity, Rights, Enforcement — flood-proofs dignity at work.
Workers need to keep knocking on the Dole’s doors even after inspection to be appraised of the findings and ensure implementation of employers’ promised corrections.
We vowed to continue working with Dole, employers and workers’ organizations to make labor inspection a living instrument of social justice, especially as the country confronts climate-driven disasters that endanger workers’ safety and livelihoods.