DOLE now has hotline 1349

CEBU, Philippines — Hotline 1349 is now open to anyone who wants to connect with the Department of Labor and Employment.

By calling 1349, the DOLE’s official hotline number, queries, concerns, complaints and reports will be attended to by a team of hotline assistance officers at the DOLE’s Contact Center in Manila.

"These hotline assistance officers come from the different offices, bureaus and attached agencies of the DOLE, who are highly and extensively trained to accommodate specific concerns coming from our customers, whether they’d be workers or employers,” said DOLE-7 officer-in-charge Roy Buenafe in a press statement.

In a memorandum released by the DOLE-Information and Publication Service, all DOLE regional offices, bureaus, services, and attached agencies are mandated to help heighten public awareness regarding DOLE Hotline 1349, a number that, according to Buenafe, is more user-friendly since it’s shorter and easier to remember.

"We encourage everybody to take advantage of this hotline. And as soon as possible, we will be displaying tarpaulins bearing the 1349 hotline number in the different field offices of DOLE-7. We will also be maximizing our partnership with several Industry Tripartite Councils/Tripartite Industrial Peace Councils in Central Visayas in the promotion of this hotline number to be able to reach as many clients as possible,” Buenafe added.

Starting March 1, 2019, numbers (032) 512-8133 and 0977-610-9202 will be servicing DOLE customers from Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Meanwhile, Malacañang, through the Office of the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel, thanked DOLE-7 for responding to and acting on a request for assistance sent by a carpenter from Pinamungajan town, Cebu.

In a letter addressed to DOLE-7 Regional Director Johnson Cañete, Presidential spokesperson and chief presidential legal counsel Salvador Panelo said he is grateful to DOLE-7 for giving due attention to the request of Arnold Portes to be provided with livelihood assistance.

Portes, a native of Sitio Dakit, Barangay Poblacion, Pinamungajan, earlier sought help from Malacañang for an alternative livelihood.

Portes was provided with an individual livelihood starter kit and was also assisted in the crafting of his project proposal for his merchandising/sari-sari store project worth almost P20,000.

The project was borne out of the DOLE Integrated Livelihood Program and Emergency Employment Programs, an advocacy that is one with government’s agenda of poverty reduction and inclusive development. — BRP (FREEMAN)