The Department of Labor and Employment urged collective action to address the Philippines' job problems on 25 October during the 23rd National PESO Congress in Palo, Leyte.

DOLE Secretary Bienvenido E. Laguesma stressed in his speech the vital role of Public Employment Service Offices or PESO and DOLE's frontline partners in promoting productive employment at the local level.

"The responsibility of realizing the objectives of the Philippine Labor and Employment Plan and the Trabaho para sa Bayan Act is not the DOLE's responsibility alone. It is jointly shared with our social partners, especially our PESOs. The challenges we face in our employment landscape demand collective action and innovative solutions," Laguesma said.

Laguesma also emphasized the need for open and constructive dialogue with PESO managers across the nation as he bared the department's five-point agenda, which includes strengthening its core functions, fortifying partnerships with employers and educational institutions and digitalizing public employment services.

DOLE conferred awards to PESOs with outstanding accomplishments in the past year during the 2022 National Search for Best PESO Awards. Among the accomplishments are the 2.4 million jobseekers employed through the facilitation of PESOs, which translates to a 91 percent placement rate across the regions.

PESO Bataan won in the first-class province category, PESO Lanao del Norte in the second-class province category and PESO Aurora in the third to fifth class category.

DOLE also hailed PESO Iloilo City as champion for the highly urbanized city category and PESO Oroquieta City, Misamis Occidental for the component and independent component city category.

Among the awardees for the municipal PESOs were PESO Villasis, Pangasinan (first class municipality category); PESO Pila, Laguna (second to third-class municipality category); and PESO Llanera, Nueva Ecija (fourth to sixth-class municipality category).

The University of Batangas was elevated to the Hall of Fame for winning the search for best PESO in 2018 and 2019 and the Bayanihan Service Award in 2020 and 2021. The university job's placement office received a trophy and a P250,000 cash prize.