DOLE issues alert vs RP-wide layoffs

MANILA, Philippines – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has alerted its regional offices nationwide to prepare for a possible mass displacement of workers due to the global economic crisis.

Labor Secretary Marianito Roque said he had directed the regional offices to put in place appropriate contingency measures to cushion the impact of the financial slump on workers from the export and other industries.

“DOLE regional offices now have a ready package of intervention programs, including quick response teams (QRTs) that would assist workers who may be displaced,” he said.

At Malacañang, President Arroyo ordered the establishment of “employment odometers” in various departments and agencies to determine how many jobs they can generate out of their capital outlays.

In Administrative Order No. 240, Mrs. Arroyo said all fruits of the value added tax “shall be put in one basket” to be called “Revenues Allocated for Public Services (REAPS).”

“The most popular, high-impact, big ticket projects and programs shall be selected and put together in one basket. All social services, all new activities, e.g. LRT expansion, shall be placed there,” read the AO.

“The amount shall be P100 billion, which corresponds to 80 percent of the VAT intake. If the administration is called to account for the VAT spending, then it should be able to point to the contents of the REAPS as the reformed VAT rebates.

“This way a major revenue source of budget funds can be protected from agitation that it can be scrapped.”

REAPS need not appear in official budget documents but may be made as an “off budget document reference.”

The AO said portions of the REAPS would be used for the elderly and disabled to allow them to benefit from the VAT.

“Affirmative action shall be taken for the disabled and the elderly in the budget,” read the AO.

The same directive said there should be allocations in the Department of Education textbook budget for Braille as well as instructional materials for special education (SPED) classes.

“The budget of the National Orthopedic Hospital shall be increased… in the hiring of new teachers, a quota shall be set for SPED specialists.”

Roque said the regional offices would assist affected workers in finding local or overseas jobs or in upgrading their skills, as well as in setting up their own business.

“The QRTs will also provide workers with legal services so they could claim unpaid salaries and other monetary benefits from employers,” he said.

Roque also said contingency measures are in place to help overseas Filipino workers who might be affected by the financial crunch.

“There are no indications that the crisis is already causing massive displacement of workers, but we are readying contingency measures for such possibility,” he said.

Roque said the government is ready to assist displaced OFWs find new jobs or help them set up other sources of livelihood upon their return to the country.

The DOLE is exerting all efforts to finalize pending negotiations for the employment of more OFWs in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Guam, France, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Japan, he added.

Meanwhile, the local recruitment industry is pushing for the establishment of mandatory repatriation and liability insurance for all legally deployed OFWs.

Eduardo Mahiya, Federated Association of Manpower Exporters Inc. president, said the proposed insurance will cover the repatriation of distressed OFWs and all other claims of Filipino workers from their foreign employers.

The mandatory insurance will be over and above their escrow deposit and performance bond and it will be at no cost to the government and the OFWs, according to recruitment leaders.

“There’s no mass displacement right now, but we could start feeling the effect of the crisis after six months,” recruitment leader Lito Soriano said.

Continued growth

Business outsourcing companies said Friday they expect continued growth, albeit at lower rates, despite the global financial turmoil.

“Admittedly, there will be a bit of cooling down on our growth numbers, but growth will definitely be there,” the Business Processing Association of the Philippines said in a statement.

The group of call centers, software and animation producers and companies involved in offshore and outsourced services said it expected some clients to “reassess” their activities in the face of the crisis.

But the industry “will continue to present itself to major US companies as part of the solution while they undergo their own restructuring to save costs,” the association said.

Association chairman Alfredo Ayala said the global outsourcing industry would follow the same patterns it has gone through in previous recessions – a deceleration in growth rates in the short-term due to a slowdown in economic activities.

But this would be followed in the near and medium term by a surge as companies accelerated cost-cutting efforts.

“Given the anticipated steepness of this downturn, we anticipate healthy growth next year,” Ayala said.

The group said it would continue to aggressively market its services worldwide, as many companies still have not tapped the potential of outsourcing some of their functions.

The industry, one of the rising stars of the Philippine economy, previously said it was targeting annual revenues of $12 billion to $13 billion by 2010.

Last year the industry saw revenues of $4.9 billion. — WIth Paolo Romero