LILAC CENTER COMMENDS THE PHILIPPINE OVERSEAS LABOR OFFICE (POLO) IN HONGKONG CANCELLATION

Former Undersecretary of Labor Nicon Fameronag with his staff at Lilac Center and acted as Emcee at the event held at the New World Hotel in CCP Complex in Pedro Gil St., Manila,  Philippines.

Lilac Center commends Bello for cancellation of POLO-Hong Kong online system deal Nicon F. Fameronag, president of Lilac Center for Public Interest, yesterday welcomed the decision of Labor and Employment Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III to cancel the service agreement on the online system for contract submission, processing, credentialing, welfare protection and data storage entered into between the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and an upstart Hong Kong service provider, Polaris Pools Ltd. 

“The Lilac Center commends Secretary Bello for his decision. It vindicates our expose of this deal which was obviously done in haste, under a cloud of secrecy, and with complete disregard of the procurement and data privacy laws of the Philippines under whose jurisdiction the POLO Hong Kong rightly belongs,” Fameronag said in a statement. Secretary Bello’s decision came after he directed DOLE Undersecretary Claro Arellano and two other DOLE Officials to conduct an investigation of the deal.

  Former Labor Usec. Nicon Fameronag in a huddle with his staff.

It was the Lilac Center that first brought to public light the aborted deal. In its recommendation, the investigation team said the “procurement” of the database system Polaris Tools Ltd., was done without public bidding on a grave disregard of the procedures of the Philippine procurement law.” This is a triumph of vigilant citizen advocacy in which the Lilac Center is a leading activist, Fameronag said. “Bello’s decision will serve a warning to all DOLE labor attaches that they are subject to the control and supervision of the DOLE secretary and, therefore, they could not just implement any program in the posts without his knowledge and approval”, Fameronag thus ended. (VerGarciaBlogs)