Congress ratifies conciliation-mediation bill

MANILA, Philippines - The Senate and the House of Representatives have ratified the bill that seeks to strengthen conciliation-mediation as a voluntary mode of dispute settlement for labor-related cases.

The bill amends Article 228 of Presidential Decree 442, as amended, otherwise known as The Labor Code of the Philippines and is expected to be signed into law by President Aquino soon.

Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada, chairman of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resource development, said the measure recognizes the mandatory conciliation introduced through the Single Entry Approach (SEnA) Program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

Northern Samar Rep. Emil Ong, one of the authors of the bill in the House, said under the measure, all issues arising from labor and employment shall be subject to mandatory conciliation-mediation.

The bill states that the labor arbiter or the appropriate DOLE agency that has jurisdiction over the dispute shall entertain only enforced or referred cases by the duly authorized officer.

Another provision is that any or both parties involved in the dispute may pre-terminate the conciliation-mediation proceedings.

Under the SEnA, labor disputes including money claims, termination of employment, unfair labor practice and OFW cases would be required to undergo a 30-day mandatory conciliation-mediation process to effect settlement between parties.

Estrada noted that from October 2010 to August last year, the DOLE Regional Offices were able to settle 71 percent of the cases referred to them, while other attached agencies settled 81 percent of the cases under the SEnA.

Akbayan party-list Rep. Walden Bello is co-author of the bill.