The NLRC Rationalization Law was primarily intended to address the increasing number of complaints filed with labor arbiters as well as cases on appeal with the commission.
For this purpose, three divisions were created in the National Capital Region, which accounts for 74 percent of the agency’s total case load nationwide.
NLRC data show that from January to December 2005, the regional arbitration branches handled 47,511 cases, while the commission handled 17,984 cases on appeal.
The position of commission attorney — three for each commissioner — was also created to replace the labor arbiters, who are presently assigned as reviewers, so they can discharge their basic function as line arbiters.
However, due to budgetary constraints, the creation of the three additional divisions shall be implemented on a staggered basis within a period of not more than three years.
The hiring of commission attorneys will depend on funds available from the budget department.
Labor arbiter Napoleon Menese, the NLRC’s legislative liaison officer to the Senate and the House of Representatives and former president of the National Association of Labor Arbiters Inc., said RA 9347 was initiated by former Cebu Rep. Celestino Espinosa Martinez Jr. way back in 1997.
Menese was Martinez’s chief of staff when the original bill was filed in Congress.