By Gillian M. Cortez
THE DEPARTMENT of Labor (DoLE) in a statement on Wednesday said it will submit to Malacañang a list of violators in connection with President Rodrigo R. Duterte’s Executive Order (EO) No. 51 on job contractualization.
The department also on Wednesday said it has issued an advisory on the renewal of registration of contractors.
DoLE in its statement said it “has been conducting inspections of establishments in the country for compliance of labor laws and standards and occupational health and safety.”
“Fast-food chains, malls, and manufacturing companies are some of the priority industries being inspected,” the statement also said, adding that “more compliance orders to regularize workers across all regions are underway.”
DoLE was mandated to carry out these inspections by EO 51, which Mr. Duterte signed on Labor Day.
According to the statement, the Bureau of Working Conditions (BWC) is validating DoLE’s list before it is sent to the Palace. DoLE’s Regional Offices 4B (Mimaropa), 6 (Western Visayas), 7 (Central Visayas), 11 (Davao) and 12 (Soccsksargen) have so far contributed to the list.
“We have actually until May 25 to submit the report,” Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III told reporters on Tuesday. “(But) it’s very possible we have a partial submission by May 10.”
Mr. Bello said the tentative list so far has “around 850 plus” companies.
Asked about his agency’s update regarding the malls, Mr. Bello said, “SM, would you believe nag-voluntary regularization sila (undertook voluntary regularization)!”
“They regularized 4,000 and there is a commitment by the end of the year, they will regularize another 5,000, but kailangan pa rin i-validate namin yan (but we still need to validate that). But obviously nakikita (it’s clear that) we’re very serious in implementing,” he added.
SM was sought for comment as of this reporting.
In DoLE’s statement, Mr. Bello was also quoted as saying, “We gained the support of ECOP (Employers Confederation of the Philippines) and they vowed to kick out from their organization any employer who will not obey the orders of the President and DoLE.”
Asked how DoLE will handle violations, Mr. Bello said, “If the employer’s issue is on contractualization, we will declare those employees as ‘regular.’ If the issue is on minimum wage, then we will ask them to pay for the difference.”
For establishments that refuse compliance, “I-pa-file natin sila ng kaso (We will file a case at the) NLRC (National Labor Relations Commission),” Mr. Bello said.
Meanwhile, DoLE also said it has issued Labor Advisory No. 06, as also posted on the agency’s Web site, on the renewal of registration of contractors under Department Order No. 174.
DoLE said renewal applications by labor contractors with no inspection findings or pending cases shall be acted upon.
Applications with inspection findings and canceled registrations will be denied. On the other hand, applications with pending cases will be processed upon presentation of proof of compliance or of dismissal of the case.

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