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THE name of Labor Secretary Arturo Brion has been
included in the short list submitted to the President by the
Judicial and Bar Council (JBC) for appointment to a new vacancy in
the Supreme Court.
If President Gloria Macapagal
Arroyo decides to appoint him, she will be bringing honor not only
to herself but also to the high tribunal for a well-deserved choice.
A valedictorian in the Ateneo
College of Law and a No. 1 bar topnotcher, Brion was a justice of
the Court of Appeals before his appointment as secretary of the
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). He was former
undersecretary of the labor and foreign affairs departments.
Brion will be an eminent addition
to the highest court of the land not only because of his excellent
academic qualifications but also because of his moral and judgmental
credentials. His integrity as a private citizen and a public
official is unquestioned.
With Brion out of the labor
department, who will his deserving successor be?
The department has a rich
reservoir of potential labor secretaries, many of whom had, at one
time or another, sat at the feet of the late statesman, Blas F. Ople,
during his 18-year term as labor secretary. All are familiar with
labor policies and problems besetting our workers.
As author of the Labor Code and
the acknowledged father of overseas employment, Ople had been an
inspiring influence in the career of many of his brilliant recruits
into the labor department who have at various times succeeded him as
labor secretary.
Among them are Brion himself;
Patricia Sto. Tomas, now chair of the Development Bank of the
Philippines; Bienvenido Laguesma; former Executive Secretary Ruben
Torres; Nieves Confesor; Chito Brillantes, now ambassador to Canada;
and Cresenciano Trajano.
They have been responsible for
carrying out the overseas employment program, Ople’s foremost
legacy to the nation, which has become one of the country’s
economic pillars. There are over eight million overseas Filipino
workers (OFWs) in about 190 countries abroad whose yearly
remittances (over $14 billion last year) have enormously bolstered
the national economy.
The big names in the labor
department today remain to be part of Ople’s administrative legacy
to DOLE. Among them are Administrator Marianito Roque of the
Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA); former labor
undersecretary Manuel Imson, now labor attaché to Geneva;
Administrator Rosalinda Baldoz of the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration (POEA); and former labor undersecretary Danny Cruz,
now labor attaché to Japan.
Outside of the labor department,
Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Esteban Conejos for migrant affairs
looms as another candidate.
Roque has been with the labor
department since Ople’s time. He rose from the ranks by dint of
devotion to duty and sheer efficiency. He has never performed below
his best since joining the department until his promotion as OWWA
chief.
He played a key role during
the evacuation of 32,000 OFWs from Kuwait and Iraq before the
outbreak of the Gulf War in 1991. He is actively involved in
extending protection to OFWs, especially those in distress.
Imson has long served as
undersecretary for overseas employment. On many occasions, he led
labor marketing missions to countries which are now the favorite
destination points of our overseas workers. He was at one time labor
attaché to the US.
Baldoz is an expert in labor
mediation, having been former head of the National Conciliation and
Mediation Board (NCMB), as well as in overseas employment, being the
current chief of POEA. Like Roque and Imson, she has long served the
labor department in different senior positions.
The POEA, during her watch, has
done a lot to curtail illegal recruitment. Under Brion’s
leadership, the POEA has sent yearly over a million workers abroad.
It has standing labor agreements with South Korea, the United Arab
Emirates and two provinces of Canada.
Cruz, a lawyer, is an old hand in
DOLE. He had long served as labor undersecretary for labor
relations. He is now the labor attaché to Japan, a post he occupied
for many years in the 1980s.
DFA Undersecretary Esteban
Conejos is in the forefront of his department’s program to extend
protection to OFWs. He has figured prominently in giving legal
assistance to distressed workers and evacuating them back to their
homeland.
Any of the names mentioned will
make a good labor secretary. Brion’s anointment of any of them
will carry a lot of weight in the President’s final determination
of his rightful successor.
agr0324@yahoo.com
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