Villanueva to push for Senate concurrence to ILO Convention

SENATE majority leader Joel Villanueva yesterday vowed to push for Senate concurrence to the International Labor Organization Convention 190 or the Convention Concerning the Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work adopted by the ILO Convention General Conference in Geneva, Switzerland in June 2019.

“We need to bring into force this new global framework to end violence and harassment at work. The Philippines’ ratification and concurrence are well past their due. I am hoping for the full support of my colleagues when we tackle this convention at the plenary,” Villanueva said.

President Marcos Jr. last Wednesday endorsed and submitted for Senate concurrence the ILO C190 aimed at promoting and upholding the welfare of workers and addressing workplace violence and harassment.

Marcos said ratifying ILO C190 will fortify the government’s mandate and policy in promoting and protecting the rights of Filipino workers, locally and overseas, by pushing for a work environment with zero tolerance for violence and harassment.

Villanueva said the ratification was a positive response to Senate Resolution No. 456 that he filed last February which called on the executive department to immediately ratify the convention.

“We thank President Marcos for heeding our call to ratify this very important ILO Convention which will provide us a critical avenue to raise the concerns of our OFWs. We don’t want a repeat of what happened to Jullebee Ranara and the numerous cases of abuses,” Villanueva said, referring to the OFW who was raped, killed, and burned by her employer’s son in Kuwait.

Data from the Department of Migrant Workers showed that the highest welfare cases handled by the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) involving OFWs from January to July last year were in Riyadh with 65,136 cases, followed by Kuwait with 43,225, and Malaysia with 29,049 cases.