Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, April 21) — Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) Secretary Abdullah Mama-o said the confusion over the approval of the agency’s implementing rules and regulations (IRR) was due to some members of the transition committee refusing to attend meetings.
“I had been calling them for meetings to discuss, to review and finally approve the implementing rules and regulations, but, unfortunately, some of the members of this transition committee refused to attend – they were boycotting my meeting,” the secretary told CNN Philippines’ News.PH on Thursday.
Mama-o said he signed the IRR on April 4 and it was published two days later. However, the transition committee submitted its own version to President Rodrigo Duterte and asked him to nullify Mama-o’s IRR because it was “irregular.”
“I pointed out to the President that I had to sign the implementing rules and regulations after we had reviewed all the provisions of this implementing rules and regulations because the other members of this transition committee abandoned their responsibilities,” explained Mama-o.
He said some of the members were reportedly not given clearance by their respective secretaries to attend the meetings. These representatives were from the Labor and Foreign Affairs departments, Mama-o added.
Duterte approved the IRR version of the transition committee, according to a document obtained by CNN Philippines on Wednesday. But Mama-o said the document still needs to be validated because neither Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea nor the President had signed it — only Medialdea’s assistant.
Mama-o said he still expects his version of the IRR to take effect on Friday, following the 15-day rule after the document was published on April 6.
