DOLE RO-8 holds first TIPC Summit

By NORMA RAE S. COSTIMIANO
September 21, 2019

TACLOBAN CITY – The Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office No. VIII held the very first Tripartite Industrial Peace Council Summit on September 17-18, 2019 at Hotel Costa Brava, San Jose, this city.

The activity was aimed at revitalizing and strengthening the Tripartite Industrial Peace Councils in the region as a solid path for furtherance of tripartism and social dialogue.

The tripartism summit was attended by around one hundred fifty (150) participants who are members of the RTIPC and Provincial TIPCs coming from the seven field offices of the region, namely: North Leyte PTIPC, West Leyte PTIPC, Southern Leyte PTIPC, Biliran PTIPC, Samar PTIPC, Eastern Samar PTIPC and Northern Samar PTIPC.

DOLE RO-8 Director Yahya A. Centi formally welcomed all the guests, speakers and participants to the two-day summit with the theme, “Strengthening the Building Blocks of Tripartism and Social Dialogue: A Key to Sustainable Development”.

"The DOLE Regional Office No. 8 takes pride in being the host to the First TIPC Summit ever held in Eastern Visayas. I really am so eager to have this gathering come to reality considering the great role and contribution of TIPC as an avenue in advancing tripartism and social dialogue in this region. This is our commitment to put forward the progress of decent work in a rapidly changing world”, said Director Centi.

Director Centi also emphasized the significance of tripartite social dialogue in providing crafting solutions to different labor and management issues.

“TIPC underscores the importance of tripartite social dialogue in forging solutions to various labour and management issues and in fostering harmony in workplaces. In our own experience and even in many other countries, tripartite dialogues are proven to result to equitable decision-making resulting to benefit of stakeholders”, Director Centi added.

Present to grace the occasion were Mr. Richard Ang, from the Office of the Presidential Assistant for the Visayas and Honorable Leo Bahin from the City Government of Tacloban who gave their messages of support to the historic event.

Different relevant topics were presented by the invited resource persons coming from the region and DOLE bureaus. During the first day, Atty. Miguel T. Tezon discussed about “Tripartism and Social Dialogue: Workers’ Perspective” while Atty. Ryan D. Mancera tackled the same topic focusing on the perspective of employers.

Atty. Tezon, who is also a member of the RTIPC-Eastern Visayas gave the basics of tripartism and social dialogue. He encouraged the TIPC members to be active in the cause of putting labor and management in equality.

On the other hand, Atty. Mancera as employer himself shared his personal experiences in managing people well leading to good labor relations. He likewise gave empowering pieces of advice and challenges.

“We would not have been able to achieve these if we had not come together with the same vision. That is the power of synergy. The theory of synergy is that 1+1=3. And that is the same synergy, the same power that I hope we will gain from the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council”, said Atty. Mancera.

Two other topics were discussed during Day 1 – “Salient Features of Amended OSH Law” delivered by Dr. Felix F. Labanda Jr. from the Bureau of Working Conditions and “Social Dialogue: Labor Market Performance in Region VIII” presented by Ms. Geselle Frances P, Zeta of the National Economic Development Authority Regional Office VIII.

Highlights during the first day of the summit were the presentation and ratification of the Constitution and By-Laws of the RTIPC-EV and the unveiling of the official RTIPC Seal. The seal consists of a symbolic icon to institutionalize tripartism that represents labor-management-government partnership in promoting higher value levels of productivity and competitiveness, enabling healthy and peaceful labor-management relations and ensuring compliance with core labor standards.

On Day 2 of the summit, two equally significant topics were likewise discussed. Atty. Maria Consuelo S. Bacay, OIC-Director of Bureau of Labor Relations gave the participants updates on BLR programs and services as well as the Security of Tenure Bill. It was followed by a discussion on the Republic Act No. 11210 or the Expanded Maternity Leave Act given by Atty. Gerard Peter C. Mariano, Attorney III of the Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns.

During the open forum, Ms. Judith Buhay from the National Anti-Poverty Commission expressed delight on the conduct of the summit and requested that it will be a yearly thing.

The first TIPC Summit was concluded by a closing remarks delivered by Atty. Cecilio I. Baleña, OIC-Assistant Regional Director. Atty. Baleña said that DOLE is hoping for a stronger cooperation from both the labor and management sectors.