THE Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) in a statement on Thursday said it has denied a motion for reconsideration by the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT) on the regularization of 7,306 workers in the company.
DoLE issued a resolution dated Jan. 10 directing the company and its contractors to grant the employees regular employment status and monetary benefits amounting to P51.6 million. Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III signed the resolution on April 24.
The statement said an appeal by PLDT and more than 30 its contractors was denied for lack of merit, but the department granted an appeal by five other contractors.
Found to be labor-only contractors by DoLE and ordered to cease and desist from further engaging in contracting activities were Activeone Health, Inc.; Aremay Enterprise; BBS-VPN Allied Services Corp. Philippines; Best Options Assistance, Inc; Comworks, Inc.; Consolidated Management Resources; Curo Teknika, Inc.; and Diar’s Assistance, Inc.
The same directive also applies to El Grande Messengerial Services, Inc.; Fastel Services, Inc.; Goodline Staffers and Allied Services, Inc.; Implicare International Management Resources, Inc.; Information Professionals, Inc.; Iplus Intelligent Network, Inc.; JFM Installation and Telecom Services, Inc.; LBP Service Corp., MD Tambungui Specialists, Inc.; MG Exeo Network, Inc.; Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corp.; MIROF Resources, Inc.; Proserve Multi Resources Specialists, Inc.; Searchers and Staffers Corp.; Serveflex, Inc.; Sitefel Marketing; Software Laboratories; SPi CRM, Inc.; Tejo Management Services, Inc.; Transbio, Inc.; Trends and Technologies and Service Maintenance; Unison System Computer, Inc.; Upsight Construction, Inc.; and We Support, Inc.
On the other hand, DoLE deemed as legitimate contractors the following: Customer Frontline Solutions, Inc.; Pro Tek Telecoms Support, Inc.; SL Temps; St. Clair Security and Investigation Inc.; and Trigold Security & Investigation Agency, Inc.
DoLE’s regional directors were ordered to initiate the appropriate proceedings against erring contractors based on the issued resolution, the statement said, adding the said companies are prohibited from operating a contracting business.
The DoLE also noted some contractors that have already settled unpaid monetary claims to their employees, such as Digital Solution and Services, Inc.; El Grande Messengerial Services, Inc.; MG Exeo Network, Inc.; MIROF Resources, Inc.; Pointman Placement Specialist; and Searchers and Staffers Corp.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has a majority stake in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls.
