Philamcop, NCMB hold nat’l LMC confab in Cebu
The Philippine League of Labor-Management Cooperation Practitioners, Inc. (Philamcop) in coordination with the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) held the 7th National Convention on Labor-Management Cooperation at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, Lahug, Cebu City last November 25 and 26.
Philamcop is the social partner of NCMB, which counts 18 regional affiliates and a membership of 1,653 companies all over the country. Labor-management cooperation (LMC) is a program of the NCMB-Department of Labor and Employment that aims to foster dialogue as a mechanism for settling disputes in the workplace. It also aims to create a culture of building better relationships between management and labor men as a way of ensuring productivity in the industries.
The convention marked a number of firsts in LMC history in the country with the number of delegates shooting up to 820—nearly double the usual numbers posted by the previous six conventions (the last time was in 2007 in Iloilo City with 468 delegates). Each of the country’s 17 regions, represented by the 20 regional affiliates of Philamcop was represented.
The Eastern Visayas regional association, Region Eight Labor-Management Cooperation Practitioners League, Inc. (Relamacop) posted the highest number of delegates at 108 both from labor and management. This despite the storm that stranded most of them for about two days at the seaports and airports. Relamacop is under the leadership of Rene V. de los Reyes, who is also the national president of Philamcop. De los Reyes also holds a number of firsts in Philamcop history being the first Visayan, first labor sector representative, first non-lawyer—and the youngest, at age 37, ever to become president of Philamcop, which now has 1,652 member-companies all over the country, representing roughly 2.9 million workers both from labor and management.
De los Reyes is also the president of the Tongonan Workers Union, one of the 14 labor unions of geothermal giant Energy Development Corporation (formerly PNOC-EDC), which is now considered as one of the crown jewels of the Lopez Group of Companies. He is also the labor sector representative to the Regional Development Council, as well as its co-chairman for the Infrastructure Development Committee.
EDC is under the leadership of Chairman Oscar M. Lopez, President and CEO Paul A. Aquino, and COO Ricky B. Tantoco. The Tongonan field is under the command of Resident Manager Engr. Manuel C. Paete.
Convention delegates traditionally come from the leaders of labor-management cooperation councils from companies. On a per company basis, Universal Robina Corporation of the John Gokongwei Summit Holdings group came unrivaled in terms of number of delegates— about 160.
Labor-management cooperation is a wide-reaching program of the Dept. of Labor and Employment that aims to promote social dialogue among management people and workers’ leaders. It also focuses on the enhancement of workplace relations by setting up mechanisms that encourage open communication between managers and workers in order to prevent disputes as well as to effectively manage conflicts that arise from time to time.
Philamcop was hatched in Tacloban City in 1997. Over the last 10 years, in tandem with Relamacop and the 16 other regional LMC associations, it successfully teamed up with NCMB & DOLE in giving the Philippines a healthy record in terms of industrial peace. There were only 6 actual labor strikes in 2007, compared to more than 20 in 2006 and the years before that. In Region 8, the Region Eight Labor-Management Cooperation Practitioners’ League (Relamacop) prides itself in helping maintain a zero-strike record for the last five years.
Four plenary speakers handled topics about values in times of crises, investing in human relations, transformation and good governance, and a huge company’s experience on human relations which has translated to good economics. The pool of speakers included former University of San Carlos President Fr. Rod Salazar, SVD; Department of Labor and Employment-Regional Office 7 Asst. Reg’l. Dir. Exequiel Sarcauga; Calbayog City (Samar) Mayor and Region 8 Regional Development Council Chairperson Mel Senen Sarmiento, and JG Summit SVP Nicasio Lim.
In the ensuing elections held on the second day of the convention, De los Reyes was given a fresh mandate, and re-elected as national president unopposed. Six other officers under his original slate also made it back to their original posts. Among them are Madonna Dio, VP-Management (HR Manager of Lipa City Multi-purpose Cooperative in Batangas City); Teofilo Colocado, Jr., VP-Labor (Unior President, Universal Robina-Corn Workers’ Union, Pasig City); Sherlock Codilla, Secretary (Sr. Manager for Industrial and Community Relations, Pasar Corporation, Isabel, Leyte); Dr. Lourdes Diaz, Treasurer (former HR Vice President, Centro Escolar University, Manila); Ma. Fe Capistrano, PRO (Admin Manager, Pilmico Foods Corp., Iligan City); Atty. Mariano H. Paps, Trustee for Luzon (HR and Legal Head, Energy Development Corp., Sorsogon City); John Pontañeles, Trustee for Visayas (Union President-COPPER, Pasar Corporation, Isabel, Leyte); Jessie Lynn Tale (Union President, Davao Light and Power, Davao City), and Senen Abing, Jr. (Grower Relations and Gov’t. Affairs Manager, DOLE-Stanfilco, Davao City)—both Trustees for Mindanao.
Among those who attended the convention was NCMB Exec. Dir. Reynaldo Ubaldo, ALU-TUCP Partylist Rep. Richard Mendoza and his twin brother Michael—Vice President for the Visayas of ALU-TUCP; Federation of Free Workers President Atty. Allan Montaño, and Mayor Tom Osmeña of Cebu City. The NCMB Regional Office in Cebu is headed by Regional Director Edmund Mirasol, while a Cebuano, Atty. Johnson G. Cañete, is this year’s convention director from NCMB, where he is Deputy Executive Director.
According to De los Reyes, this convention’s number of delegates has surged also because of Philamcop’s effort to regionalize its focus. Since the officers’ election in 2007, they have made the rounds of practically every region in the country, leaving the Zamboanga area in Mindanao and Benguet in Luzon as the only places that have not been covered by these visits.
De los Reyes is also a practicing journalist, having been editor in chief of the Island Reporter in Ormoc City in 1995, at age 25— and presently Associate Editor of the West Leyte Weekly Express (Ormoc City) and columnist of the Leyte-Samar Daily Express (Tacloban City). He graduated with a degree in Business Administration from the University of San Carlos in 1991, when its president was Fr. Rod Salazar. (PR)
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