Metro Manila – The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Inter-Agency Committee on Research and Statistical Matters (IAC-RSM) held its 2nd Quarterly Meeting on 16 June 2022 at the DOLE Labor Governance Learning Center (LGLC), Intramuros, Manila. The activity was spearheaded by the Institute of Labor Studies and attended by several representatives and focals of DOLE Offices and Attached Agencies, including the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB). The NCMB was represented by its Research and Information Division Chief Marife E. Fausto and Statistician II Ianne R. Go.

“This meeting aims to provide updates regarding the research commitments, as well as, to discuss the possible research agenda of the IAC-RSM”, Executive Director Ahmma Charisma Lobrin-Satumba said as she welcomed the participants who attended the activity.

The meeting came to order when Assistant Secretary for Labor Relations, Social Protection and Policy Support Cluster Alex V. Avila discussed the possible research agenda for the next six (6) years. He expressed that while the next administration has not yet laid out its Labor and Employment Agenda, it is most likely that the research agenda will focus on the next Labor and Employment Agenda. ASEC Avila presumed that it will revolve around topics such as issues on contractualization, wage, labor and enterprise productivity, sustainable consumption and production, climate change, and matters relating to decent working conditions.

Furthermore, he emphasized that research agenda may also be focused on the agenda set by the United Nations in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), specifically on matters pertaining to employment and social protection. He also highlighted that while the researches are commonly focused on policy implications of the offices’ mandates, it is also worth-studying the inter-connection between the research agenda and administrative agenda of the Department.
Mr. Ianne R. Go presented the status of the NCMB’s four (4) research commitments for 2022. He explained that most of the 2022 NCMB researches on the Board’s program are committed to be completed by the end of the year 2022 and that one of its researches is already in its finalization stage.

“The topic on LMC is indeed interesting as it will help improve the mandate of the Board, which is to maintain industrial peace”, ASEC Avila said after the presentation. While in some instances, maintenance of industrial peace may be equated to zero strikes, it may still go beyond that definition, he added. He also suggested that the Board may also want to consider adding the component of labor productivity in the LMC-related research. Furthermore, he appreciated the study on SEnA since the NCMB acts as the secretariat of the program.

ED Lobrin-Satumba, after the presentation proper, shared that there could possibly be a workshop for the IAC-RSM in order to finalize the research agenda for the next six (6) years. Furthermore, ED Lobrin-Satumba explained that by January 2023, they are targeting to conduct the next DOLE-Research Conference which is aimed to be participated by DOLE offices and attached agencies.

END/ianne r. go