Previous Story
DOL cuts afternoon office for lack of power
|
Posted on Jul 01 2004
The Department of Labor was not fully operational for two days—Tuesday and Wednesday—due to lack of power and water following the onslaught of Typhoon Tingting Monday.
“We have no access to the computer. There’s no air-conditioning. So even if the employees come, we can’t really do the work,” said DOL deputy secretary Andrew Salas.
He said the department had to close the office after 11 am on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, he said, DOL could only be opened for a few hours in the morning. “People were sweating. We felt sorry for them,” he said.
Several dozens of people have been going to the department after the typhoon to file work permit applications, submit requirements, attend hearings, or follow up on their applications but without getting served mainly due to lack of power.
Salas called on employers to continue to submit complete work permit applications to ensure fast processing. He said several people have been doing it and are grateful for the quick release of permits.
“Continue to submit complete applications. Bring all the necessary documents and we can give you your permits in 10 days,” he said.
He noted that DOL is now just processing June 2004 applications. “All the rest had been done,” he said.
Salas earlier projected to implement a 10-day permit processing beginning May 1 this year. But this was not officially implemented for lack of a necessary legislation.
Salas earlier counted on Rep. Joseph Deleon Guerrero to introduce a bill that aims to authorize DOL to cut its processing period from 30 days to 10 days.
When asked yesterday, Salas said that, although it was not introduced by Guerrero, such provision was incorporated in a related bill filed recently by Rep. Ray Yumul.
