MANILA, Philippines — With “no magic wand” to fix labor concerns in one sweep, incoming labor secretary Bienvenido Laguesma is looking to make the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) a responsive and action-driven agency as he also seeks to push for more local employment in the country.
Interviewed over ANC on Tuesday, Laguesma, who is set to return to DOLE under the incoming administration, said sitting down with the worker and employer sectors would be his first order of business.
“Try to come up with some workable formula…I would make my pitch for more local employment because while I see overseas employment as providing us needed foreign exchange remittances, I also look at the social cost that go with it: separation of family, too much dependence on foreign remittance, spending more than what you are actually earning and not saving for the future,” he said.
“My mission should be to be able to promote and create…more employment opportunities so that our workers will have an option of choosing staying with their families—maybe not with lucrative salaries—but enjoying and probably watching the growing up of their children,” he stated, adding that he intends to work closely with the newly-created Department of Migrant Workers (DMW).
Laguesma also stressed the need to “shape up” DOLE programs into “fighting machines” that would effectively address the concerns of both the workers and employers.
“Ang gusto ko sanang makita yung Department of Labor and Employment makita na moving, motivational, accessible, action-driven, responsive and responsive doon po sa mga concerns ng mga workers at employers,” he said.
(I want the Department of Labor and Employment to be motivational, accessible, action-driven, responsive and responsive to the concerns of the workers and employers.)
“Kasi kahit anong klaseng programa kung hindi mo sila mai-shape up into a fighting machine that can actually address directly and promptly ang pangangailangan ng sektor na pinaglilingkuran ng Department of Labor and Employment, kung hindi mo magagawa yun, palagay ko kahit ano pang binabalak mo na proyekto, mahihirapan ka,” he added.
(Even if you have a lot of programs but you failed to shape them up into a fighting machine that can actually address directly and promptly the needs of the sector the Department of Labor and Employment is serving, it will be a challenge.)
He expressed commitment to be “patient” and to listen to criticisms and offers of help and support in order to help the next administration succeed in its goals in the next six years.
“So gusto ko sanang makita itong susunod na ilang buwan, ang department ay magkakaroon ng image na talagang nagrerespond siya. Workers and employers are not feeling left out,” he said.
(In the coming months, I want to see the department have this image of being responsive. Workers and employers are not feeling left out.)
Aside from being a former labor chief, Laguesma also previously headed the Social Security System. He also recalled having started his career in the DOLE under the administration of former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr.
He then went on to become the labor secretary under the presidency of Joseph Estrada.
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