The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has successfully facilitated nearly P2 billion in monetary benefits to over 58,000 workers across the country in 2024 through its Regional Offices (ROs) and the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB).

Through the Single-Entry Approach (SEnA) Program, DOLE ROs and NCMB facilitated a total of P2,903,714,020.87 in monetary benefits to 58,212 workers.

The Labor Department emphasized the importance of the SEnA Program, which was institutionalized in 2013, in promoting industrial peace and ensuring equitable treatment in employer-employee relations.

The SEnA Program is a 30-day mandatory conciliation-mediation initiative designed to provide a speedy, impartial, inexpensive, and accessible settlement procedure for all labor issues or conflicts, preventing them from escalating into full-blown disputes or actual labor cases.

In 2024, DOLE ROs and NCMB collectively processed 53,519 requests for assistance (RFAs) through the SEnA program, achieving combined disposition and settlement rates of 99.63 percent and 90.35 percent, respectively.

Among the 64,376 companies with validated employment size data, 36.88 percent (23,741 RFAs) came from small enterprises, 26.24 percent (16,892 RFAs) from micro-enterprises, 12.88 percent (8,291 RFAs) from medium enterprises, and 24.00 percent (15,452 RFAs) from large enterprises.

DOLE ROs and NCMB demonstrated remarkable efficiency in resolving RFAs, averaging a resolution time of five to nine days. DOLE RO III led the way by settling cases in an average of one day.

In terms of process cycle time, 69,244 (90.52 percent) RFAs were disposed of within the prescribed 30-day period, 2,784 (3.64 percent) within 31 to 45 days, and 4,472 (5.85 percent) beyond 46 days.

Similarly, 53,753 (94.82 percent) RFAs were settled within 30 days, while 1,554 (2.74 percent) were resolved within the allowable extension period of 31 to 45 days, and 1,381 (2.44 percent) took longer than 46 days to settle.

By the end of December 2024, 2,250 (2.68 percent) of the 83,836 RFAs handled by DOLE ROs and NCMB were still undergoing conciliation-mediation proceedings, reflecting the continued commitment to providing thorough attention to unresolved cases.

Aside from the SEnA, DOLE fosters industrial peace through its Grievance Machinery, which resolves disputes arising from collective bargaining agreements and company policies.

It also promotes voluntary arbitration, where parties select an impartial arbitrator to resolve labor disputes, with the decision being final and binding.

DOLE’s Workplace Relations Enhancement Program further supports this mission by empowering employees with communication, grievance resolution, and conflict-navigation skills through plant-level training and seminars.