Quezon City – From airplanes to buses, Regional Branch Directors travel all the way to the Central Office, convening for the first quarterly consultation meeting of the year on 22 March 2023 at the NCMB Central Office Conference Room, Arcadia Building, Quezon Avenue, Quezon City. 

The officials brainstormed over the pending critical cases lodged at the Board, going over the cases one by one, strategizing and generating options towards the resolution of the issues. Officer-in-Charge Teresita Audea expressed her gratitude to the regional branches, especially to the conciliator-mediators who regularly submit timely reports on their cases. 

Typical of a quarterly meeting, Chief Marife Fausto gave an overview of the national and regional accomplishments of the Board two (2) months into the year. Assessing the settlement rates of 52.63% and 38.89% for Preventive Mediation (PM) cases and Notices of Strike/Lockout (NS/L), respectively, OIC Audea acknowledged the presence of difficult to settle disputes. She mentioned that reports submitted to the Office of the Secretary reaped not only commendations but also constructive criticisms and such comments should be the takeoff point in improving the handling of the cases. 

As for the administrative matters, Deputy Executive Director Maria Cristina Mangaliman facilitated the discussions on Performance-Based Bonus (PBB), uniform, budget allocation, and filling up of vacancies. 

Presentation of modules on the core programs of the Board drafted by the Committee on the Design and Updating of Learning Modules and its subcommittees for Conciliation and Mediation (CM), Labor-Management Cooperation (LMC), Voluntary Arbitration (VA), and Grievance Machinery (GM) was the highlight of the meeting. The drafting of the learning modules was in line with the agreement made during the Board’s 2022 Year-End Performance Assessment (YEPA) and 2023 Strategic Planning and Exercise and in compliance with the Board’s commitment in the 2023 DOLE Action Plan.

During the meeting, the four (4) sub-committees were given the opportunity to share the developments on their respective presentations and modules to which the officials and directors provided their suggestions. The presenters of the modules were Chief Julie Rodriguez and Pia Sambrano for LMC, Director Ronda Doctor-Malimban for GM, OIC-Director Kim Marie Roque-Aquino, and Kinsy Comandante for CM. 

The day was full of insights from the officials, working together on the identified issues and ongoing cases as well as projects of the Board. Indeed, effective teamwork achieves much more than any individual work. 

For more information about this article, you may email cmd_co@ncmb.gov.ph or call (02) 8252-6262 local 747. 

END/ Eloisa Aquino