Senate ratifies ILO workplace policy

THE PHILIPPINE Senate ratified on Monday the 2019 International Labor Organization (ILO) convention to eliminate workplace violence and harassment, making the Philippines the first Southeast Asian country to affirm the global treaty.

Unanimously, senators voted 20-0-0 in favor of the Philippine concurrence of ILO Convention 190, which enjoins ILO member-states to develop, in line with their national laws, an “inclusive, integrated and gender-responsive approach” to prevent and eliminate violence and harassment in the workplace.

“The nature of violence and harassment in the world of work is multifaceted, and ILO C190 not only recognizes this reality but also highlights the importance of prevention, protection, and redressal mechanisms,” Senate Majority Leader Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva had said in his co-sponsorship speech of the ILO convention.

Earlier, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. asked the Senate to ratify the global treaty, which was adopted during the general conference in Geneva, Switzerland in June 2019.

The Constitution mandates that treaties and international agreements be ratified with at least two-thirds concurrence of the Senate’s members. — John Victor D. Ordoñez