Commission on Appointments (CA) Majority Leader and Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. LRay Villafuerte says he has zero doubts regarding Bienvenido Laguesma's competence and capability as Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) secretary.
Laguesma, whose appointment to the Cabinet post was confirmed by the CA last Sept. 20, first served as DOLE secretary during the administration of former President Joseph Estrada.
For his second stint at the helm of the department, Laguesma told legislators that he will focus more on strengthening existing programs rather than on implementing new ones, with the goal of simplifying and expediting processes for services available to both workers and employers.
The labor chief gave this response after Villafuerte asked him prior to the former's confirmation by the bicameral body about what his priority programs would be.
“Ang nakikita ko pong isang mahalagang dapat pong gawin ay yung simplification po ng mga proseso upang mabilis pong makamtan ng mga manggagawa at yun pong mga naghahangad ng serbisyo kahit galing din po sa mga namumuhunan, na meron po talagang may kinalaman sa ease in doing business, prompt delivery of service, at saka yung matapat po na paglilingkuran na hindi na po kinakailangan maghanap pa ng tutulong o magpapadrino sa kanila upang makamtan ang serbisyo ng DOLE (One important task that I must do is the simplification of the processes in order for the workers, the public, and even the investors to realize that there really is ease in doing business, prompt delivery of service, and honest public service in DOLE wherein you won't need a padrino)," Laguesma said.
“In simple terms po, yung mga programa na umiiral pwede pa pong ipagpatuloy, yung accessibility po siguro at simplification ng mga rules para ng ganun po ay hindi malagay sa alanganin ang ating mga manggagawa na gusto kumuha ng serbisyo sa DOLE (the existing programs can be continued, but there should be accessibility and simplification of the rules so that the workers who want to avail of DOLE's service won't be inconvenienced),” he said.
To this, Villafuerte replied: “Those keywords—simplification, accessibility, modernization, and maybe digitalization of some processes— will be helpful to our people."
In the end, the former deputy speaker supported Laguesma’s confirmation by the CA as DOLE secretary.
In a previous CA plenary session, Villafuerte had similarly backed the commission’s confirmation of the appointments of Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. and Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.
Remulla had been governor of Cavite and congressman of the province, while Abalos had served as mayor of Mandaluyong City and chairman of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA).