DOLE employer-employee conciliation program results in payment of nearly P500K to 16 employees

Salome Siaton, regional director of the Department of Labor in Central Visayas, says the Single Entry Approach (SEnA) program results in faster resolutions of labor disputes. | Irene R. Sino Cruz

CEBU CITY — The Single Entry Approach (SEnA) program, the employer-employee conciliation program of the Department of Labor and Employment, has resulted in the release of nearly P500,000 to 16 employees of a Cebu City-based company.

In an emailed press release, Labor Regional Director for Central Visayas Salome Siaton said that issues arising from labor and employment would be subject to a 30-day period of conciliation-mediation proceedings.

“But in the case of these workers, it took barely two days for a settlement to surface. So, we are happy of the outcome especially for the workers, who are given what’s due them,” said Siaton.

In a report to Siaton, Emmanuel Ferrer, head of Tri-City Field Office (TCFO), confirmed that the 16 employees received a total of P496,887.33 through a quit claim and release signed by all the 16 workers in front of witnesses.

“Workers decided to resign from work but since both parties reached some mutually accepted terms during the mandatory conferences, including the payment of their separation pay, so they were paid by the company,” said Jamid Lana, labor inspector and assigned single approach desk officer (SEADO).

The amount would cover the workers’ payment for their holiday pay, service incentive leave, overtime pay, 13th month pay, and separation pay.

Workers received payments ranging from P7,000 to P63,000.

Siaton lauded Lana and TCFO for reaching a speedy, impartial and accessible settlement of the concerns of the workers.

The SEnA had been institutionalized by Republic Act No. 10396, An Act Strengthening Conciliation-mediation as a Voluntary Mode of Dispute Settlement for all Labor Cases, amending for the purpose Article 228 of Presidential Decree No. 44 otherwise known as Labor Code of the Philippines as amended.

Aside from DOLE, the other offices also offering SEnA services are the National Conciliation and Mediation Board, Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, National Labor Relations Commission-Regional Arbitration Branch and the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration./dbs