The DOLE Inter-Agency Committee on Research and Statistical Matters (IAC-RSM) held its first-quarter meeting on March 5 at the Migration Information Resource Center in Intramuros, Manila, discussing a host of initial activities for 2015.
The main agenda items were the research commitments made by IAC-RSM members in the previous year, capacity-building activities on writing a research paper, the expansion of the scope of the Philippine Employment Project (PEP) Model, and the DOLE’s role in the forthcoming APEC summit.
Other matters discussed in the meeting included the conduct on March 31 of a joint research forum on Filipino women migrant workers, organized by the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) and the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA).
Research training, quarterly reports
The IAC-RSM members will undergo three seminar-workshops for the year, covering topics on writing the parts of a research paper such as introduction, methodology, and results and discussion.
The ILS volunteered to organize and fund the first leg of the training series. The responsibility will eventually rotate among other members for the succeeding sessions.
Except for some with concerns on the availability of data for generation or on the traditional practice of producing reports on an annual basis, the members generally agreed to submit to the committee statistical or research reports each quarter.
Expanded PEP Model, APEC summit
The PEP Model was set for expansion in scope after the International Labor Organization (ILO) had offered assistance to DOLE “to include sub-industries with regional disaggregation,” noted Isabel Artajo of ILS during the meeting.
The Philippine Statistics Authority committed to provide medium- and long-term forecasts as inputs to the expanded PEP Model, according to Artajo.
On the upcoming APEC summit late this year, officer-in-charge (OIC) Assistant Secretary Katherine Brimon informed IAC-RSM members of the role of DOLE in the crafting of the Human Resource Development (HRD) Plan.
The development of the HRD Plan involves more than 25 sectors, which underscores the need to distribute tasks to as many concerned DOLE offices as possible, OIC-Asec. Brimon said.
More than 30 DOLE agency representatives attended the meeting.
The IAC-RSM consists of the Administrative Service (AS), the Bureau of Labor Relations (BLR), the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE), the Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns (BWSC), the Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC),the DOLE Legislative Liaison Office (DLLO), the Employees Compensation Commission (ECC), the Financial and Management Service (FMS), the Human Resource Development Service (HRDS), the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS), the Internal Audit Service (IAS), the International Labor Affairs Bureau (ILAB), the Labor Communications Office (LCO), and the Legal Service (LS).
It is also composed of the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), the National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP), the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC), the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC), the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA), the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), the Planning Service (PS), the Professional Regulations Commission and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA). XXXX
The Institute for Labor Studies (ILS) is the policy research and advocacy arm of the Department of Labor and Employment. For more information on this story, please contact Ronell J. Delerio of the Advocacy and Publications Division of ILS at telephone nos. 527-3490/527-3447.