Manila, Philippines – Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Undersecretary for Workers Protection, Human Resource, and Internal Auditing Services Cluster Ciriaco A. Lagunzad gave his approval on the Institute for Labor Studies research titled, “Labor and employment governance in a ‘Federal Philippines’: A Policy Delphi-Survey study” by ILS during the paper’s presentation last February 6, 2019 at the iLearn Conference Room in Intramuros, Manila.
Research proponent John Emmanuel B. Villanueva, Senior Labor and Employment Officer from the Institute’s Employment Research Division presented his research findings to the panel composed of Usec. Lagunzad, ILS Executive Director Ahmma Charisma Lobrin-Satumba, Acting Deputy Executive Director Patrick P. Patriwirawan, Jr., and members of the Employment Research Division headed by its Acting Chief, Bernard Paul M. Magulabnan.
The research aimed to provide guidance for the Department and other concerned policy/decision makers in delineating labor and employment governance within the context of a ‘Federal Philippines’ by categorizing areas of authority under the following structure: (a) exclusive responsibility of the federal government; (b) exclusive responsibility of the regional governments; and (c) shared responsibility between the two levels of government. The ‘Policy Delphi’ approach as a method mobilized concerned stakeholder groups at the national level, as well as the conduct of a stakeholder perception survey to gather and examine the perspectives of tripartite representatives at the regional level, as a whole.
Results yielded a common ground for the pursuance of good governance principles while balancing economic and political considerations across national and regional tiers. The research also urged policy decision makers to give due course to the informed preferences presented by all the respondents. Part of the research recommendations, which zeroes in livelihood, emergency employment, and programs for Vulnerable Workers likewise support the prospect of devolving this responsibility to regional governments to provide a faster, more efficient, and sustainable mode of service delivery to directly address the immediate employment needs of our workers.
The full research paper is available in the ILS website through this link: http://ils.dole.gov.ph/labor-and-employment-governance-in-a-federal-philippines-a-policy-delphi-survey-study/
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 the Advocacy and Publications Division at 527-3490.