Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, June 24) — International Labour Organization (ILO) Director-General Gilbert Houngbo will meet with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and senior government officials during his visit to the Philippines from June 25 to 28, the ILO announced on Friday.
This will be Houngbo’s first visit to the country to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Manila’s membership to the ILO.
The ILO said Houngbo will meet with Marcos, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, Migrant Workers Secretary Toots Ople, and other senior government officials.
He will also hold dialogues with representatives of workers’ and employers’ groups, as well as meet with Asian Development Bank president Masatsugu Asakawa, some heads of agencies and members of the United Nations (UN) Country Team, and UN Resident Coordinator Gustavo González, it also said.
“Mr Houngbo will emphasize the need for a new social contract to address growing inequalities and persistent poverty through a Global Coalition for Social Justice,” the UN agency said in a statement on Friday.
The ILO chief will also grace the global seafarers’ summit Seafarer 2050 to deliver a keynote address, as well as the National Employers Conference of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines.
Houngbo is also scheduled to visit the Migrant Worker Resource Center in Quezon City, where he will talk with overseas Filipino workers and their families regarding rights-based migration, fair recruitment, and decent work.
“The MRC is the first local government-operated one-stop shop in the National Capital Region to offer gender-responsive services to migrant workers and their families,” the ILO said.
In January, the ILO High-Level Tripartite Mission went to the Philippines to look into the country’s labor situation.
It reiterated in its report the need of ensuring full examination and probe into outstanding cases of extrajudicial killings against trade union leaders and members, and hold perpetrators to account.
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Following the recommendations of the mission, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed an executive order to create an inter-agency committee to increase coordination and facilitate the resolution of labor cases across the country.
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It also sought to strengthen and defend the freedom of association and the workers’ right to organize amid concerns of various groups on violent crimes, extra-judicial killings, harassment, suppression of trade union rights, and red-tagging allegedly perpetrated by state agents.
