ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations

CO-Manila

About the Office
Areas of work
Decent work in the Philippines
What we do
Information resources

Calendar of events

Contact us

ILO Country Office for the Philippines (CO-Manila)

19th Floor, Yuchengco Tower, RCBC Plaza
6819 Ayala Avenue

Makati City 1200

Philippines

Tel:+63 2 5809900

Fax:+63 2 8567597

Website:
www.ilo.org/manila

Email:MANILA@ilo.org

ILO home > Regions > Asia and the Pacific > Offices in the Region > CO-Manila

ILO Country Office for the Philippines (CO-Manila)

Welcome to the ILO Country Office for the Philippines (CO-Manila) website. The ILO strives with partners to achieve decent work for all. It promotes social justice and internationally-recognized human and labour rights. It is the United Nations agency where governments, employers and workers have, through a tripartite structure, equal voice in improving conditions and life at work. More >

What's new

Joint statement

Joint statement by Mr Haruhiko Kuroda, President, Asian Development Bank, and Mr Guy Ryder, Director-General, International Labour Organization
17 December 2012, Manila, Philippines
Joint statement by the ADB and the ILO on promoting decent work in developing Asia and the Pacific to reduce poverty and vulnerability; supporting a more inclusive, equitable and prosperous Asia-Pacific region; promoting greater access to opportunities; and reaffirming support for internationally-recognized core labour standards.
Press release

ILO Director-General arrives in the Philippines, extends sympathies to typhoon survivors
16 December 2012, Manila, Philippines
The Director-General of the International Labour Organization, Mr Guy Ryder, arrives today in Manila for a two-day visit and extends his sympathies to those who lost their loved-ones a year ago in Washi (Sendong) and more recently by Typhoon Bopha (Pablo).
Statement

Message by the ILO's Director-general on the occasion of International Migrants Day
18 December 2012
We celebrate the contribution of women and men migrants to growth and development in both their host and home countries. They replenish labour markets with much-needed skills and human and social capital. In this inter-connected world, demographic shifts which generate shortages of labour and skills at all levels, often in parallel with high unemployment or slack employment creation, raise serious challenges for the prospects of economic growth in the countries concerned.
Press release

ILO Director-General visits the Philippines
14 December 2012, Manila, Philippines
The Director-General of the International Labour Organization, Mr Guy Ryder, will visit the Philippines from Sunday, 16 December to Monday, 17 December. This will be Mr Ryder’s first visit to the Philippines since he was elected as the 10th ILO Director-General on 1 October 2012. The last visit of an ILO Director-General to the Philippines was in February 1995.
Livelihood cluster responds to onslaught of Typhoon Pablo
13 December 2012, Manila, Philippines
The onslaught of Typhoon Pablo (Bopha) in the provinces of Compostela Valley and Davao Oriental affected the livelihoods of thousands of farmers and their families. Agriculture and agricultural industries, service sectors and infrastructure are among the critical areas for livelihood recovery.
National partners forum on child labour
10-12 December 2012, Manila, Philippines
Partners in the fight against the worst forms of child labour will gather in the 2nd International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) National Partners Forum to share best practices and lessons learned including emerging challenges in the provinces of Bukidnon, Masbate, Northern Samar and Quezon Province.
Individuals and organizations pledge for financial support of child labourers
27 November 2012, Quezon Province, Philippines
Strong community involvement is among the highlight features of the ILO-IPEC and DOLE child labour programme called “Taking Children Out of Child Labour through a Functional and Institutionalized Child Labour Monitoring and Integrated Services Delivery System in the Communities.”
Feature story

Breaking the barriers: Young women in non-traditional technical vocational careers
26 November 2012
The role of women as co-equal partners in development has gained much ground in the Philippines. To fully mainstream gender equality in a society that bears traces of a stereotypically macho culture requires further advocacy and attitude change especially among people in culturally segregated and rural communities.
Feature story

Entrepreneurship education at the secondary level in Antique and Masbate
21 November 2012
'The assistance that the Joint Programme provided to our school has helped us in a big way especially in reducing the student dropout rate. It also has a strong effect in making entrepreneurship education more relevant to the needs of students.' This was Rodolfo Caberoy’s summation of his experience with the Joint Programme’s interventions in his home province of Antique in the last three years.
Workshop on blogging about children
20-21 November 2012, Manila, Philippines
Child labourers suffer in silence but bloggers and writers have united to give children a voice and to fight the worst forms of child labour through blogs.
Round Table on the design of unemployment insurance (UI) systems: Learning from ASEAN experience
19-20 November 2012, St Giles Hotel, Makati City
The International Labour Organization Country Office for the Philippines (ILO CO-Manila), the ILO/Japan-ASEAN UI Project, and the Government of the Philippines will organize an experts’ meeting to recall international labour standards relating to unemployment benefits, share experiences of ASEAN’s on-going initiatives to protect and support the unemployed, as well as worldwide practices, on unemployment insurance.
Antique in the spotlight: Local economic development designed to create youth employment
23 October 2012
In the Philippines, a great number of young people cannot find work. According to the 2011 data from the National Statistics Office, almost half of unemployed were young workers aged 15-24 years.
Workshop

SWOT exercises
17 October 2012, Quezon City, Philippines
One of the activities of the US State Department funded ILO Freedom of Association Project, is the undertaking of a series of SWOT exercises to examine the institutional needs of our social partners to engage in good faith collective bargaining and meaningful social dialogue.
Decent Work in the Philippines
11 October 2012
The primary goal of the ILO is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain Decent Work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. Decent Work is the opportunity for productive work in which rights are protected, adequate income is generated, and sufficient social protection is provided. Decent Work is the goal of ILO’s constituents - governments, workers and employers.
Feature story

Technical vocational training in Maguindanao: Harnessing the local pool of talent through skills trainings
17 September 2012
6 June 2012 was a red letter day for Jonell Venancio. He got up bright and chirpy that morning anticipating the afternoon’s activities in which he was slated to formally graduate from his training course.
Greener Business – Better Workplace Plus+ Knowledge Sharing Workshop
12 - 14 September 2012, CSB Hotel Malate, Manila
The program would aim to enhance the appreciation of constituents and other GBA partners on the modules and tools included in the Greener Business | Better Workplace Enterprise Assistance Package.
News item

Filipino domestic workers get labour rights recognition
5 September 2012
By ratifying ILO Convention 189, the Philippines become the second country to officially extend basic labour rights to domestic workers.
News item

Landmark treaty for domestic workers to come into force
5 September 2012
The ILO’s Convention on Domestic Workers has now been ratified by two countries, meaning it will come into effect in a year’s time. The Convention extends basic labour rights to tens of millions of domestic workers worldwide.
Feature article

Building disaster-resilient communities in the Philippines
29 August 2012
Helping disaster survivors get back to work and support their families is a vital part of rebuilding lives and communities. At the same time these programmes – such as that run for survivors of Tropical Storm Washi in the Philippines - can help people learn new skills, so opening up new opportunities for the future.
Feature story

Technical vocational training in Antique: Enhancing on-the-job training and post-training services

It is a sad but common fact that not all young people who have gone through technical vocational training or college education are able to find jobs. Some of them are not able to find any job and this is especially true for people in localities with a labour market characterized by mismatches between available jobs and skills, among others.
Feature article

Antique’s disadvantaged youth shows that entrepreneurship is an option

Early trials and life lessons have led 22-year old Ian Lester Diana to an emotional maturity not common for his age. Ian Lester hails from a fishing village in Anini-y, the southernmost town of Antique province in the central Philippine island of Panay.
Green Jobs in Asia Regional Conference
Singgasana Hotel Surabaya, Surabaya, Indonesia
On 29-31 August 2012, a tripartite regional workshop will discuss the Green Jobs in Asia project to highlight successful approaches, areas of improvement and the way forward. Representatives from GJA will include Bangladesh, Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. They will be joined by additional countries with Green Jobs experience: China, Fiji, India and Thailand.
Feature article

"Soap of life: micro soap production provides more than bread and butter for families” (Success story of a youth entrepreneur)
28 August 2012
One of the sixty (60) recipients of Starter Kits of the Labor Market-Responsive Entrepreneurship Training Programme in the Province of Maguindanao is a 22 year-old out-of-school youth and a resident of Old Maganoy, Datu Abdullah Sangki, 2nd District Maguindanao.
Feature article

'I can and I will: great things come in good and bad ways…' (Success story of a youth entrepreneur)
28 August 2012
“The world is round” has been a cliché since time immemorial but we seldom realize its truth unless we experience it ourselves. Nasef is just one of the many who could say that this cliché applies in real life.
Publication

PESO starter kit: guide to understanding the Public Employment Service Office

The PESO starter kit provides information about the Public Employment Service Office its core functions and operations. It presents 10 simple steps to PESO institutionalization, grouped into phases. It also highlights best practices of well-performing PESOs that will serve as models to others.
Press release

Philippines ratification marks global milestone for decent work for seafarers
21 August 2012
The Philippines is the 30th Member to have its ratification registered and join the group of the “first 30” ILO countries to demonstrate their commitment to ensuring decent work for seafarer and a level playing field for quality shipowners.
Training on entrepreneurship development for TESDA (Mindanao)
6-10 August 2012, Davao City
The ILO Country Office for the Philippines (ILO CO-Manila) in collaboration with the MDG Fund Joint Programme on Alternatives to Migration: Decent Jobs for Filipino Youth has partnered with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) to conduct the Training of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Trainers on Entrepreneurship.
United Nations Photo Exhibit on Indigenous Women at the SM North Edsa
3 - 10 August 2012

A photo exhibit on indigenous women will be featured on 3-10 August 2012 at the SM North Edsa in celebration of the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. The photo exhibit will highlight contributions of indigenous peoples and initiatives focused on empowering indigenous women.
ILO, UNICEF and WHO Joint Press

ILO, UNICEF and WHO hail significant increase in breastfeeding rates
1 August 2012
On the commemoration of Global Breastfeeding Week, the International Labour Organization (ILO), UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) congratulated the Government of the Philippines for the significant increase in exclusive breastfeeding rates in the country. However, the challenge of breastfeeding when a mother returns to work still remains. Many working women face difficulties with the risk of income loss after giving birth.
Press release

Queen of Spain reviews development projects
17 July 2012
Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain visited the Philippines to review Spanish-funded development projects that have helped thousands of disadvantaged youth and indigenous peoples towards better lives.
News item

Improving delivery of entrepreneurship training to disadvantaged youth
12 July 2012
Trainers of ILO’s entrepreneurship programme, Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB), shared their experiences in training disadvantaged youth in Masbate, Antique, Maguindanao and Agusan del Sur, during the Refresher Workshop for Master Trainers and Trainers of SIYB in May 2012.
Promoting decent work for migrant health professionals
6 July 2012, The Bayleaf Hotel, Intramuros, Manila
The EU funded Decent Work Across Borders: A pilot project for migrant health professionals and skilled workers will be launched on 6 July 2012 in Manila.
Fact sheet

Philippines data/fact sheet: HIV, AIDS, and sexually transmitted diseases
4 July 2012
Comparison of the distribution of male and female HIV cases by age-group and certain highlighted years.
Publication

Measuring CHANGE
2 July 2012
To measure the change, it is necessary to conduct a baseline study. A baseline study is important to establish a 'no intervention' or pre-programme implementation scenario.
Publication

CHANGE: an executive overview
2 July 2012
CHANGE is designed to provide practical tools that will guide managers and workers in setting up a package of workplace-based interventions to promote healthy lifestyles.
Publication

Instituting CHANGE in the workplace
29 June 2012
The workplace is an ideal setting to carry out health promotion programmes. Recognizing the interrelatedness of unhealthy habits and risky behaviours, the enterprise response must use a comprehensive approach to achieve positive results.
Publication

Communicating CHANGE manual
29 June 2012
CHANGE is a comprehensive workplace health and wellness campaign under the healthy lifestyle in the workplace programme that aims to enable young professional to make healthy choices to improve their well-being and overall performance.
Press release

Ph scales up fight against child labour ILO urges renewed action towards global deadline
26 June 2012
Manila (ILO News) - The Philippines launched today a nationwide campaign against child labour. The Batang Malaya: Child labor free Philippines is the country’s response for renewed action towards the global deadline of ending the worst forms of child labour by 2016.
World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL) Philippines Celebration 2012
26 June 2012, Fun Ranch, Pasig City
The Philippines will celebrate the World Day Against Child Labour on 26 June this year by presenting to the public the preliminary results of the 2011 Survey on Children done by the National Statistics Office (NSO). This comes 10 years after the last survey done in 2001 which revealed that there were 4.2 million working children, 2.4 million of which were into child labour because of their exposure to hazardous conditions. After the NSO presents the 2011 Survey, a national campaign dubbed “Batang Malaya: A Child Labour-Free Philippines” will be launched by the National Child Labor Committee.
Article

Technical vocational training in Masbate: Keeping the dream alive for Masbate’s disadvantaged youth
18 June 2012
Perhaps the greatest frustration of being a youth growing up in disadvantaged circumstances is aspiring for a career and being shot down even before one has been given the opportunity to take off.
Experts meeting on the Philippines country review of the skills development system and delivery
4 June 2012, Manila, Philippines
With funding from the ILO/Korea Partnership Programme, an experts meeting to initiate the review of the Philippines skills development system and delivery will be conducted.
Global Employment Trends for Youth 2012

In its report on the “Global Employment Trends for Youth 2012”, the ILO examines the continuing job crisis affecting young people in many parts of the world. It provides updated statistics on global and regional youth unemployment rates and presents ILO policy recommendations to curb the current trends.
World of Work Report 2012

The ILO launch its annual report “World of Work Report 2012: Better Jobs for a Better Economy”. The new study examines the performance of different countries since the start of the global crisis through the prism of the quantity and quality of jobs.