110 recruitment agencies appeal to Duterte to keep Bello
EMBATTLED Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello 3rd has found allies in 110 licensed land-based recruitment and manpower agencies as he faces administrative charges before the Presidential Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) for alleged graft.
The various recuritment and manpower agencies and recruitment industry associations on Monday signed a manifesto of support amid calls for Bello’s ouster and reports that a third complaint would be filed against him before the PACC this week.
The group called on President Duterte to retain the services of Bello, saying that they have known Bello to be a decent man and abhor corrupt practices.
“…we pray that President Rodrigo Roa Duterte keep Secretary Silvestre H. Bello 3rd in his post at the Department of Labor and Employment so he can continue his program both for local and overseas labor,” the manifesto said.
The group also stressed that it did not tolerate/encourage the practice of bribing government officials and employees in exchange for personal favors.
Last week, policy think tank Lilac Center for Public Interest called on the President to let go of Bello, who it said could no longer effectively function amid mounting allegations that he was involved in graft and corruption.
“Because of the very public allegations against Secretary Bello, he has become an albatross around the President’s neck, slowing him down in realizing his campaign vow to write the apocalypse of contractualization,” said Lilac president Nicon F. Fameronag, former labor undersecretary for employment.
“Mr. President, let go of Secretary Bello so that your warning that you won’t tolerate even a whiff of corruption in your administration will be believable,” he said.
He said that corruption allegations against Bello, former undersecretary Dominador Say and other labor officials were demoralizing the men and women of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
“Under the present situation, the DOLE bureaucracy could not implement labor and employment programs as fast as they could because their leader is under a cloud of suspicion for wrongdoing,” Fameronag said, adding that this could also undermine the President’s exhortation to Congress to enact a law to end contractualization. WILLIAM B. DEPASUPIL
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