LABOR ISSUES. Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Central Visayas regional director Lilia Estillore (standing with microphone) explains the Special Program for Employment of Students during a program in Cebu City on Jan. 20, 2023. Estillore on Thursday (Dec. 28, 2023) said over 4,000 Central Visayas workers were awarded around PHP230 million in settlement through DOLE’s Single Entry Approach (SEnA) program from January to November of this year. (Photo courtesy of DOLE-7)
CEBU CITY – Over 4,000 workers have availed of the Single Entry Approach (SEnA) program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) in settling their labor disputes with their employers in the first 11 months of 2023, a labor official said on Thursday.
This amounted to about PHP230 million in monetary awards released through SEnA, the administrative approach in providing a speedy, impartial, inexpensive and accessible settlement procedure of labor conflicts through a 30-day mandatory conciliation-mediation.
Lilia Estillore, regional director of DOLE-7, said the amount released covered the settled requests for assistance lodged under the program throughout the Central Visayas region.
The Tri-City field office of DOLE-7 covering the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu registered the biggest settlement amount at PHP199.8 million, benefiting 3,305 workers from January to November 2023.
The Negros Oriental field office awarded PHP16.6 million to 348 workers, while the Cebu provincial field office yielded PHP6.2 million worth of monetary awards to 304 workers.
The settlement amount of PHP4.5 million was awarded to some 129 workers who processed their request for assistance in the Bohol provincial field office; while a total of 78 workers in Siquijor got PHP876,673.44 worth of monetary awards through the province’s field office.
“These accomplishments are credited to the settled requests for assistance that were received and handled by the different field offices of DOLE-7. We have our Single Entry Assistance Desk Officers or SEADOs who see to it that settlement be reached by parties involved,” Estillore told the Philippine News Agency.
She also underscored the advantage of SEnA, saying it is a free, speedy and non-litigious settlement of labor issues which prevent labor issues from ripening into full-blown disputes or actual labor cases.
The concept was first introduced through Department Order 107-10 and later institutionalized through the enactment of Republic Act 10396 in 2013, providing for a 30-day mandatory conciliation-mediation for issues arising from labor and employment.
With the birth of e-SEnA, any aggrieved party will have the option to file for a request for assistance online by accessing https://sena.dole.gov.ph/.
The SEnA conferences could be done virtually or in a blended platform or the usual face-to-face arrangement. (PNA)
