Business blocs support UN, BARMM labor sector development efforts

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — Officials of major business blocs and local executives have pledged support for the joint labor sector empowerment programs of the International Labour Organization (ILO) of the United Nations and the Bangsamoro regional government.

ILO’s representative to the Philippines, Khalid Hassan, and Bangsamoro Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin Sema met on Thursday, August 14, in Cotabato City to discuss continuing their collaborative efforts to address child labor in BARMM and improve the skills of domestic workers.

Entrepreneur-lawyer Ronald Hallid Dimacisil Torres, chairman of the Bangsamoro Business Council, and Chinese merchants in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao separately told reporters on Saturday, August 16, that they would support the joint programs of the Ministry of Labor and Employment-BARMM and the ILO, an agency of the United Nations.

“Their programs are worth supporting because they benefit the social welfare agenda of the peace process of Malacañang and the Moro sectors in the autonomous region,” Torres said.

The ILO office in Cotabato, MoLE-BARMM, the administration of Cotabato City Mayor Bruce Matabalao, and local executives in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur have jointly rescued and re-enrolled 624 child laborers in schools over the past 24 months.

“We shall provide you with support for the development of the labor sector in the region,” Hassan, a Pakistani, told Sema during their meeting at MoLE-BARMM’s office at the Bangsamoro capitol in Cotabato City.

Sema and Hassan also discussed establishing a technical employment-generation mechanism in the autonomous region with the help of foreign partners.

Sema said MoLE-BARMM has locally funded programs for labor force skills development to support the ministry’s job placement initiatives.

Hassan and Sema, who is chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front that has a peace agreement with Malacañang, also discussed creating a data management system to identify and record the skills of overseas workers, helping connect them more easily to potential employers.

Mohammad Pasigan, chairman of the Bangsamoro Regional Board of Investments, told reporters that the ILO and MoLE-BARMM labor sector empowerment initiatives complement their efforts to show foreign investors that workers in the autonomous region are well-trained for technical jobs and are as competitive as workers in other Asian countries.