Labor group Defend Jobs Philippines has commended Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto over his recent moves in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The DJP stated that the actions taken by Sotto which favors local government workers, urban poor and people must be emulated by other city chief executives, national government officials and even private companies.
The group commended Sotto’s assurance that Pasig City hall employees will receive full payment of their salaries this month even without work due to the Luzon-wide enhanced community quarantine, providing of 400,000 food packs for his indigent constituents and defending the rights of tricycle drivers to continue their operations for the sake of the travel of frontline health workers.
“The young mayor from Pasig City should be the role model of both his fellow neophytes and veterans in public service. Despite being new in power, Sotto shows how to decisively serve with a heart for our poor and marginalized people,” said DJP spokesperson Thadeus Ifurung.
Ifurung added “we are in high hopes that Vico will not change his path and will keep up his good work towards a better leader of the country. His brand of leadership must go viral and contagious to other officials in our bureaucracy.”
Meanwhile, DJP urged the Labor department to do its part in assisting Filipino workers and their employers to ensure that affected workers of the COVID-19 due to the government’s imposed flexible work arrangements and enhanced community quarantine will be able to access its emergency financial assistance program.
The call was made after numbers of complaints overwhelmingly pour in the group’s ongoing COVID-19 Labor monitor initiative and parallel hotline mechanisms criticizing the non-functional DOLE Hotline 1349 since Monday.
Workers were complaining that no DOLE assistance officers have been taking their calls and some waited for hours on the line ending up talking to one or being hanged up.
The group said that DOLE must be available and accessible 24/7 especially in this crucial time when our workers and their employers badly need assistance and guidance from the agency.
“While we completely understand that DOLE has been implementing flexible work arrangements on its own rank in order to protect the health and safety its own employees, the Labor Department must also devise its own intenal medhanisms to consider the thousands of workers and employees who rely on their services and programs,” said Ifurung.
DJP launched their COVID-19 Labor Monitor last week to monitor COVID-19 related labor concerns and the processes of the implementation of the DOLE programs.
The said parallel labor monitor campaign’s hotline number is 82775615 (for Metro Manila) or +63282775615 (for outside Metro Manila) which is open from Mondays to Sundays from 8:00 in the morning to 10:00 in the afternoon.