DAVAO CITY – Re-elected Davao City Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte is asking his father, President-elect Rodrigo Duterte to reconsider the appointment of former labor leader Joel Maglungsod as undersecretary of the Department of Labor and Employment.
The young Duterte accused Maglungsod of interfering a labor dispute in the Japanese-owned fruit company Nakashin Davao International which recently shut down.
“I already texted Bong Go to ask President Rody to reconsider the appointment of Jomag ( Maglunsod) as the undersecretary of labor,” he said, referring to his father’s executive assistant, Christopher Lawrence Go.
Maglunsod is among the appointees of the incoming president from the progressive groups.
The Kilusang Mayo Uno in a previous statement said Duterte has disrespected labor leader Romualdo “Dodong” Basilio during the mediation earlier led by Vice Mayor Duterte. KMU said the same incident happened in their second meeting with Duterte in his office, in the afternoon of the same day.
The 75 workers were dismissed last April 8 after they refused to sign a quit-claim form which waived their right to file against the company.
The dismissed workers sought help from the DOLE and to the Japanese Consulate to expedite their demand to be made regular workers, but to no avail.
Duterte has apologized to the workers, but said that he refused to work with KMU who he said “manipulated” the protesting workers.
Maglunsod, who serves as the Vice President for Mindanao, has called on Duterte to continue the talks, but Duterte refused saying he was “surprised” with Maglunsod’s statement.
“I am surprised that an incoming Labor Undersecretary is meddling with this issue as it sends a wrong signal to the country. With his insistence, one could easily say that KMU will force upon the throats of the companies to deal with them in times of labor conflicts but this time done under the cloak of state powers. Baka gawin pang requirement ng DOLE na may KMU na union muna bago makapag negosyo (Maybe DOLE would later require to have a KMU union first before businesses are allowed to operate),” he said.
In an interview after his oath taking as vice mayor on Monday, Duterte said that they asked the workers to file cases against their agency and not against the company.
“We offer them to file a case against the agency. The problem is the KMU, they don’t stop, they wanted the company to close,” he said.
Duterte said that they tried to talk with the Japanese owner of the company which has already declared a shut down. The company is set to formally file company closure with the DOLE.
“Di natin mapigilan nag shutdown talaga sila dahil sa nalugi sila dahil sa barricade sa gate nila and there were steps taken sa atoa kang (Atty. Manases Carpio) na kausapin yung may ari, (We already asked the owner, but we can’t stop them now, they already shut down because they are already losing because of the barricade. There were steps taken by Atty. Carpio to ask the owner),” he said.
Carpio, who is the husband of incoming Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio, serves as the legal counsel for Nakashin.
Duterte claimed the shutdown of the frozen fruit-exporting company has repercussions.
He added that he is not interested in dealing with the KMU.
“I’m not interested in dealing (with) those kind of people, matigas ang ulo, ayaw kung kausapin yan (I’m not interested in dealing with those kind of people, hard-headed. I don’t want to talk to them,)” he said. (davaotoday.com)
