17K JOBS UP FOR GRABS

CEBU LABOR DAY JOB FAIR

President Duterte to visit Cebu on Labor Day, where he will make an ‘important announcement.’ But militant workers are set to greet the President’s arrival in the city with protests

President Rodrigo Duterte will be in Cebu City on Labor Day to grace the opening of a job fair that will offer 17,000 job vacancies in Central Visayas.

The President is expected to make “a very important announcement” while in Cebu, according to Labor Undersecretary Joel Maglunsod, who was in Cebu City on Saturday.

Maglunsod, in a press conference also attended by Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino, told reporters that President Duterte will drop by Cebu City for a few hours to attend the National Labor Day celebration this May 1 at the IEC Convention Center (IC3) in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.

He said the President is scheduled to be at the venue at around 10 a.m. and is expected to deliver “an important announcement,” which he declined to elaborate on so as not to preempt the President.

Before the President’s arrival, a Mass will be offered at 6 a.m. at the Pope John Paul II Seminary Chapel, which will be followed by a registration.

“We confirmed the presence of the President, but he will just stay for a limited hours. But we’re just happy that the President has responded to our invitation,” Maglunsod said.

The ceremonial launching of job vacancies in Central Visayas is part of a simultaneous and nationwide celebration of Labor Day organized by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), which will bring in a total of 132,247 local and overseas job offerings to job seekers across 37 areas in the country.

In Central Visayas, DOLE-7 Regional Director Alvin Villamor said that around 17,966 job vacancies will be opened, 3,383 of which are for local employment while 14,583 positions are for overseas placements.

Protest

But protests from labor groups in Cebu and Central Visayas are also expected to greet President Duterte’s Labor Day visit in Cebu City.

Metudio Belarmino Jr., spokesperson of the Cebu Labor Coalition (CELAC), announced that they will be participating in protests and rallies this May 1 to express condemnation on the President’s decision not to issue an executive order (EO) to stop contractualization or the end-of-contract (endo) employment scheme, which allows businesses to hire and rehire workers under six-month contracts to avoid regularization.

Belarmino Jr. said President Duterte broke his promise to end endo, which he made when he was still campaigning for presidency.

“First he (President Duterte) said that he will stop all kind of contractualization. Now he suddenly changed his mind and he would no longer issue an executive order,” Belarmino said.

He also said that they will withdraw their membership at the Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC) in the wake of this development.

Security preparations

Meanwhile, the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) has anticipated the protests and rallies expected during the President’s Labor Day visit and has started to tighten security in the city.

Chief Supt. Robert Quenery, PRO-7 regional director, also announced that the entire police force in Cebu will be placed under full, red-alert on April 30, or a day before President Duterte will arrive in Cebu City.

“We’re ready for the Labor Day celebration and for any threats that may happen during President Duterte’s visit especially with rallies and protests from cause-oriented groups,” said Quenery.

He added that they will be mobilizing the police’s Civil Disturbance Management Team, which will be composed of members from the Regional Mobile Force Battalion, Cebu Provincial Police Office (CCPO) and the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO).

“Protesters will be given a chance to voice out their wants, but we will just contain them in an area away from the venue wherein President Duterte will be making his speech. And I hope they will be able to express their sentiments during the protest. We will also be observing maximum tolerance that day,” said Quenery.

Endo

Speaking on behalf of DOLE, Maglunsod extended their apologies to different labor groups that had expected the President to sign the anti-endo EO.

“I will just ask for an apology for our shortcoming, but rest assured we’re doing all that we can,” he added.

The Duterte administration has been the recipient of the ire of several labor groups since Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello announced that the President will not be issuing any EO to stop endo, and will instead prioritize the bill seeking for a security in tenure, which is now pending in the Senate.

House Bill no. 6908 or An Act Strengthening the Security of Tenure of Workers has already passed the House of Representatives.

But for Maglunsod, it would better if the President will issue an EO instead of just leaving it to congress.

“I personally, I’m in favor on the issuance of EO to stop contractualization in order to strengthen our campaign against it. (This is why I’m also) urging the Senate to approve the security of tenure bill,” he said.

Maglunsod also assured the public that they will not be lenient in their campaign against the illegal practices of contractualization as mandated on their Department Order (D.O.) 183 or the Revised Rules on the Administration and Enforcement of Labor Laws, by conducting assessment and inspections to business establishments.

“Since 2016, around 150,000 workers were already regularized. This year, we are targeting to regularized around 300,000 workers, wherein as of the moment, 80,000 workers are now enjoying a regular status of employment. In fact, just recently we’ve ordered PLDT to regularize their 3,306 employees,” Maglunsod added.

Job offers in CV

Meanwhile, Villamor said some of the job offerings in Central Visayas on May 1 include common positions for local employment such as customer service representatives, cashiers, sales clerks, drivers, kitchen staff, waiters, engineers, service crew, carpenter, masons, and technical support representatives.

Job seekers can also apply for common positions needed abroad such as nurses, engineers, bell boys, cook, service crew, receptionists, waiters/waitresses, room attendants, graphics designers, and restaurant workers, among others.

“In Cebu, all activities lined up for the celebration, especially the job fair, will take place in one venue, the IC3 Convention Center of Cebu. In Dumaguete City, the job fair will be at the Negros Oriental Convention Center, Capitol Area,” said Villamor.