This agency cannot hire workers - DOLE

The Department of Labor and Employment has warned a manpower agency of conducting recruitment and placement activities saying its registration is limited only to contracting and sub-contracting activities.

DOLE regional director Rodolfo Sabulao wrote Maria Luz Cabahug, manager of Citymate Manpower and General Services Corp. in Maguikay, Mandaue City, to remind her of the limitation of her firm's registration.

Sabulao's action came after DOLE-7 received a complaint from a person requesting that Citymate be investigated for alleged "illegal activities," including the recruitment and hiring of local workers for the production of dried mangoes.

The DOLE subsequently conducted an investigation but Cabahug has yet to answer the notice of Sabulao. Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas has encouraged the country's top companies to participate in the government's efforts to boost employment through job fairs nationwide.

Sto. Tomas said small and medium enterprises have been joining government-sponsored job fairs and she has prodded larger companies to do the same.

The DOLE's Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics reported that, in 2004, a total of 45,121 applicants obtain employment through DOLE-supervised job fairs nationwide.

Of these numbers, 20,458 of the applicants were hired on-the-spot by participating firms while 24,663 others were subsequently placed and deployed as a result of the applications they submitted at the fairs.