Liam Demafelix
Reporting from the TSR newsroom.
PH to chair International Labor Conference in 2027, says Tolentino
The Philippines will preside over the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva beginning April or May 2027, a significant multilateral responsibility that Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino said Thursday makes it urgent to resolve longstanding complaints filed with the International Labor…
Criminology, Nursing top PH enrollment charts but jobs mismatch persists: Tolentino
Criminology and Nursing consistently rank among the highest enrollment courses in Philippine schools despite not reflecting actual labor market demand, and the jobs mismatch problem has persisted for decades without a durable solution, Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino said Thursday. Tolentino…
After Angeles building collapse, Tolentino directs DOLE to form rescue teams, run drills in offices
Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino has directed the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) Occupational Safety and Health office to form its own rescue teams and conduct safety and rescue exercises in commercial establishments and office buildings, starting in Metro Manila, following a…
DOLE launches monthly nationwide job fairs starting September 14
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) is launching a nationwide job fair on September 14 with the entire DOLE leadership team deployed across the country, and will follow it with monthly job fairs through the rest of the year, Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino said Thursday. Tolentino…
Cash for work, reimagined: TUPAD now serves earthquake victims, teachers of struggling readers, and displaced drivers
The Tulong Panghanapbuhay sa Ating Disadvantaged/Displaced Workers (TUPAD) program has evolved far beyond its original purpose as an emergency cash-for-work scheme, according to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino said the program is now serving…
DOLE has 477 labor inspectors for tens of thousands of establishments. Tolentino says that is not enough.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) has only 477 active labor inspectors to cover tens of thousands of establishments across the Philippines, far short of the 1,210 positions in the plantilla, and Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino says even filling all 1,210 slots would still not be…
Malingering—an intentional fabrication of illness—strains healthcare, medical resources, study says
Healthcare workers continue to face a persistent yet often overlooked challenge that strains clinical resources and complicates patient care — malingering. A comprehensive clinical review published on April 12, 2026 in the National Library of Medicine’s StatPearls database, authored by Shah…
AI could kill us all by 2030, warns ex-Anthropic researcher
Jacob Coxon, who spent three years doing pretraining research at OpenAI and Anthropic, resigned this week and warned in a viral social media post that the AI industry is “gambling with our lives” by racing toward self-improving superintelligence. A 27-year-old researcher who worked on training…
As PH shifts to renewable energy, Tolentino says TESDA must train the next generation of solar installers
Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino said he will be working with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to open a training center for solar panel installation. Tolentino identified solar panel installation as one of the most urgent skills gaps in the Philippine labor market…
Tolentino creates first-ever Maritime Labor Affairs Office to protect seafarers and fisherfolk
Labor Secretary Francis Tolentino has created the first dedicated Maritime Labor Affairs Office within the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), covering the welfare, working conditions, and legal rights of Filipino seafarers and fisherfolk who were previously without a specialized office to…
Why Vitamin D supplements may harm aging brains than actually help, study suggests
Vitamin D supplements may not be as beneficial as commonly believed, particularly among older adults, according to a landmark study published in BMJ Open. The study, led by researchers Rong Hua, Chun Siang Lam, Vincent Chung Tong Mok, and Yin Ting Cheung, challenges the widely held view that…
Parents of child vloggers can only spend 20% of earnings, while 80% must go to child’s welfare: DOLE
Parents of child content creators including vloggers, bloggers, and child entertainers can only use 20% of their child’s earnings for family expenses, while 80% must be set aside for the child’s education, healthcare, and overall welfare, under a labor advisory recently issued by the Department of…
Tolentino wants DOLE to pay more attention to small businesses, where nearly all Filipino workers actually are
Ninety-eight percent of Filipino workers and their employers are in micro, small, and medium enterprises rather than large corporations, yet labor inspection and compliance resources of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) have historically been concentrated on big companies, a mismatch…
DOLE conciliators settled 219 out of 249 labor cases in 2026, sparing thousands from prolonged court battles
The Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) settled 219 out of 249 labor cases handled so far in 2026, an 88% settlement rate that resulted in ₱112 million in payouts to approximately 7,500 workers who were spared from years-long court…
Free legal help for workers coming should Congress OK creation of Labor Attorney’s Office: Tolentino
Filipino workers who cannot afford a lawyer when filing labor complaints may soon have access to free legal representation through a proposed Labor Attorney’s Office, should Congress approve Secretary Francis Tolentino’s request for 64 government-funded lawyers deployed across Luzon, Visayas, and…