THE National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) noted 597 cases have been filed in its Regional Arbitration Branch in Davao City, for the first half of the year.
NLRC-Davao information officer Gloria Baui said out of the 597,105 cases are filed by Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) who are mostly deployed to different cities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia like Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam.
To complete the number, 492 cases are labor complaints from the different business establishments within Davao del Sur, 365 of which appertain to Davao City and the different parts of the southern region.
Baui said the second largest number of complaints filed is 89, which came from agricultural sector of Davao del Norte, mostly from various business establishments whose nature of business is into banana production, imports/exports.
NLRC-Davao executive labor arbiter lawyer Elmer Ben Pasion, meanwhile, said NLRC diligently continues to embrace its mandate to resolve cases within the six-month period or earlier.
Pasion said there are 574 total disposal of cases recorded for the period of January to June of this year. He added that statistical record for disposal by way of settlement is 45 percent while cases resolved by way of decision is 32 percent.
"The rest of the cases are either withdrawn or dismissed without prejudice to its refilling," Pasion said.
He added that the retirement of two-lady labor arbiters in June 2017 and the increasing number of labor complaints in the region, has left the challenge of resolving cases within its mandate to the remaining arbiters and its personnel.
Pasion vowed to continue their stint in observing their mandate, vision and mission. He added that the NLRC will keep up to deserve the trust of their clients and the public, in general.