ILS - DOLE

ONLINE DIPLOMACY IN action.

Using the latest high technological means and facilities provided by Mircosoft Philippines, the Institute for Labor Studies (ILS), the research policy and advocacy arm of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), will hold its first-ever live web conferencing for its upcoming Working World Trialogue (WWT) on Labor Diplomacy.

The two-day event, which was held from May 13 to 14, 2010 at the Microsoft Headquarters in Ayala Office Tower, Makati City, gathered government officials, civil society leaders and dozens of Filipino labor attaches and welfare officers around the world via online video conferencing for the first time. The first day of the Trialogue was allotted for presentations on general diplomacy concerns and migration issues while the second day was devoted to the experiences and cases of officials from various government agencies regarding their diplomatic engagements and undertakings.

The said WWT, an annual activity of the ILS, aimed to generate various ideas and insights on the development and crafting of a labor diplomacy agenda for the Philippines. As one of the largest labor-sending countries after China and India, ILS Executive Director Cynthia R. Cruz said that the Philippines must “give emphasis on migrant worker issues in its bilateral, regional and multilateral relations” throughout the world. She also said that due to the constant increase in the number of Filipino migrant workers, “protection of their rights and welfare has become an explicit state policy.” And given the significant role being played by overseas employment in keeping the economy vibrant and resilient in the recent years, the development of a Philippine labor diplomacy agenda is now becoming more important and necessary than ever.

Moreover, Executive Director Cruz stated that the Philippines’ labor diplomacy action plan will be based on the United States model. She stressed that “labor diplomacy largely means international affairs or foreign policy that promotes the labor and employment goals of the country.” She also said that one of the functions of labor diplomacy is to “advocate for support of the country’s labor and employment-related foals in international forums and to provide information on economic, social and political issues in the host countries, as well as labor market information, from which basis for policy-making and program development can be drawn.”

However, she said that the integral component and core of a Philippine labor diplomacy program would be much different from that of the United States since we are a labor-sending country. She said that the country’s labor diplomacy would be centered on “advancing the labor and employment interests of the Philippines in its international affairs” and would serve as “an overarching framework for a people-centered management of Philippine international affairs.” As such, diplomacy will now be seen and considered as an organizing principle for the Philippine governance of the overseas labor market.

With that, the ILS sought to draw out exemplary practices and elicit lessons, ideas, insights and recommendations for policy formulation on labor diplomacy development from the participants and stakeholders in this issue during the WWT.