Dole, MDC to help Visayas contractors follow standards

The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) Central Visayas and the Makati Development Corp. (MDC) have signed an agreement to help local contractors comply with the safety and health standards in their projects.

“All of us can see how booming the construction industry is here in Cebu. All these activities are doing a lot in terms of contributing to our local economy and we cannot afford to lose lives because of unhealthy and unsafe practices,” said Dole Regional Director Chona M. Mantilla in her speech during the launching of the Kapatiran Wise-TAV partnership project last Wednesday.

Through the partnership with MDC, which will act as “big brother,” Mantilla said that they can effectively encourage the industry players to follow standards.

“They (MDC) will help monitor their ‘small brothers’ and ensure that they follow the standards set by Dole especially in the safety and health aspect.”

Aside from the safety and health aspect, other labor-related concerns such as wage and benefits standards will also be monitored.

“Dole will take a proactive role in enforcing the standards, in fact, we will be giving out the Seal of Excellence Award to those who follow the standards as an incentive. When they get that, we will not monitor them for three years,” she said.

Since April, Mantilla said there have been at least seven fatalities in the construction work area which she said is a big loss to the industry.

“In these booming times, we cannot afford to lose good talent. That is why we are pushing for this project. We also have the ITC or the Industry Tripartite Council which includes representatives from the key industries in Cebu to help us monitor companies in their specific industries,” said Mantilla.