“Problema sa trabaho? I-SEnA mo!”

Metro Manila – NCR workers and employers can expect a new batch of trained desk officers to assist them with issues related to their employment. The National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) partnered with the Department of Labor and Employment – National Capital Region (DOLE-NCR) for the conduct of Basic Training for Single-Entry Assistance Desk Officers (SEADOs) on 17-18 April 2023 held at the DOLE Command Center, Muralla Wing, DOLE Building, Intramuros, Manila.

In his opening message, DOLE-NCR Assistant Regional Director Jude Thomas P. Trayvilla expressed his gratitude to NCMB for granting the office’s request to equip its future desk officers with the knowledge and skills necessary in handling requests for assistance (RFAs).

The two-day training course covered the basics of the SEnA program, from learning its historical background to conducting conciliation-mediation conferences. Thirty-two (32) participants assigned in various field offices located in NCR were able to complete the course.

The first day of the course focused on laying down the foundation. Program’s history, legal bases, and prevailing guidelines were all tackled. Participants also learned the SEnA procedures, conciliation-mediation techniques, and behavioral and skills requirements of a SEADO.

The training culminated with the mock conciliation-mediation conferences of the participants. They demonstrated their probing skills in resolving issues on illegal dismissal, discrimination, regularization claims in bus companies, security agencies, and manufacturing companies.

After completing the training course, participants are expected to serve as additional desk officers of their respective field offices.

The SEnA Program institutionalized the mandatory conciliation-mediation law pursuant to Republic Act 10396 enacted in 2013. It is the DOLE’s program that endeavors to provide a 30-day mandatory conciliation-mediation procedure that is speedy, impartial, inexpensive, and accessible to settle labor and employment issues, preventing them from escalating into labor disputes. Any aggrieved person, may it be a worker, group of workers, union or an employer, can avail of the services provided by the DOLE Regional Offices and Attached Agencies, including the DOLE-NCR and the NCMB.

The NCMB Training Team was headed by Officer-in-Charge/Deputy Executive Director IV Teresita Eugenio-Audea. She was joined by OIC-Director Kim Marie Roque-Aquino, Supervising Labor and Employment Officer Tess Kinsy Comandante, and Labor and Employment Officer III Eloisa Mae Aquino.

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

END/ Eloisa Aquino