DOLE facilitated over P39 million monetary award

CEBU, Philippines - Over 700 workers have been awarded monetary benefits by the Department of Labor and Employment through the Single Entry Approach (SEnA) program.

A total of P39,338,456.38 in monetary benefits have been distributed last month by DOLE-7  to 743 beneficiaries.

DOLE-7 acting director Exequiel R. Sarcauga said that all agencies handling SEnA are regularly comparing notes and exchanging weekly and monthly SEnA reports to keep track of the region's disposition and settlement performance as a whole.

Sarcauga, in a statement, said this is also intended to double check the Request for Assistance or RFAs received in each agency so as to avoid duplication.

The National Conciliation and Mediation Board-7, Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board-7, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration POEA-7, National Labor Relations Commission-Regional Arbitration Branch-7, and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration-7 are among the DOLE's attached agencies offering the SEnA services.

Sarcauga said that more than P28 million worth of monetary award was given by DOLE-7 to 233 workers after having settled 84 RFAs. The NCMB-7 has also settled 77 RFAs with almost P9 million awarded to 361 workers.

Around 65 RFAs were settled by the NLRC-RAB-7 with a total award of P1.2 million to 111 workers.

The POEA also settled 28 RFAs from Overseas Filipino Workers with an amount of almost P400, 000 benefiting 38 migrant workers.

Sarcauga said that a total of 254 RFAs were settled for the month of October alone.

"Under SEnA, we are to observe the 30-day calendar days maximum period within which we conduct mandatory conciliation-mediation proceedings. However, we are happy to note that for the settled RFAs, we're able to reach the resolution of said issues in less than 30 days," Sarcauga said.

He added that the region's average duration to dispose the RFAs is from 10 to 23 days only. Because of SEnA, Sarcauga said the number of cases lodged at the NLRC has tremendously decreased.

He further said that most of the RFAs filed were due to non-payment of the minimum wage, non-payment of holidays and overtime pay, illegal dismissal, and non-coverage and/or non-remittance of social protection benefits under SSS, Philhealth, and Pag-ibig.  (FREEMAN)