Joel Villanueva asks PNP not to add to red tape faced by workers

Senator Joel Villanueva on Wednesday asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) not to add another coil of red tape on workers’ request for assistance from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).

“The request for police clearance lengthens the process and delays the response," Villanueva, chair of Senate labor and employment panel, said in a statement.

"The road to DOLE must not pass through a police station. Most workers who come to DOLE are at the end of their rope. Let us not add a coil of red tape to their suffering," he added.

Villanueva said PNP must look into the workers’ request for assistance from the Labor department as a 911 call that must be “rapidly responded to.”

He lauded DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III’s decision to reject the PNP’s request to make the national police clearance

"We commend Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and our DOLE family for upholding an ease-of-doing business approach to workers' request for assistance. Truly, it is a compassionate policy we should all support and emulate,” the senator said.

In his letter to PNP chief Police General Debold Sinas, Bello said, "While good-intentioned, requiring DOLE’s clientele to secure NPC to avail of our services will do more harm than good."

Sinas, in a letter to Bello dated March 10, told the Labor chief that the PNP was hoping that the DOLE would support the National Police Clearance System (NPCS) “by making the NPC as one of your requirements in your various transactions.”

Bello said DOLE stakeholders opposed Sinas’ proposal, saying it was “a form of red tape to all and an additional financial burden to many.” —NB, GMA News