The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is also investigating the case of the Valenzuela City factory worker whose salary was paid to him in centavo coins by his company.
DOLE Information and Publication Service (IPS) Director Rolly Francia said in a virtual press conference Wednesday, June 30 that the agency's National Capital Region (NCR) director has been instructed by Secretary Silvestre Bello III to look into the matter.
"I would supposed that Regional Director Mirasol has already dispatched her team dahil kahapon pa ang direktiba ni Secretary Bello na mag-inspection (because Secretary Bello issued his directive yesterday). So we'll just wait for the report of the investigative team," Francia said.
Francia said that the DOLE chief would immediately come up with a resolution once he gets his hands on Mirasol's report.
He acknowledged that the Valenzuela City government had earlier launched its own probe on the issue.
News reports have identified the factory worker as Russell Mañoza. He claimed that his company purposely paid his salary--P1,056--in cents in order to inconvenience him.
Apparently, Mañoza had previously filed a complaint against his employer for the late release of his salary.
"First time itong ganito sa totoo lang (This is really a first for us)," Francia said, referring to the payment of salary in coins.
Notheless, he said that "There are other employees from the same company who may have the same complaints." The DOLE director clarified that the regional office's probe would not center on the usage of coins in the payment of salary, but on Mañoza's complaint against his employer. "Hindi po within the jurisdiction ng ," he said.
"There could be other laws that could cover that violation. Ang pagka-unawa namin dito sa department, may limitasyon na tinatakda ang Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas sa paggamit ng legal tender at lalo sa paggamit ng barya sa pagpapasahod sa manggagawa (Based on our understanding here at the department, the Central Bank of the Philippines has set limits on the use of legal tender, especially on using coins to pay for the salary of workers)," he noted.