Under the new political administration, poverty alleviation remains the Philippines' development priority. On her inauguration, President Arroyo emphasized the need to level the economic playing field by broadening the economic opportunities, spreading the benefits and widening the participation in development of the poor, even as more efficient and globally competitive economic arrangements are pursued.

Being a signatory to the World Summit on Social Development (WSSD) Declaration, the Philippine has committed itself to the implementation of the global and regional social development agenda. This is being realized through the formulation and implementation of the country's Medium Term Development Plans.

The passage of a law known as Republic Act 8425 has put in place a sound social reform policy. This law has institutionalized the government's poverty alleviation program through the creation of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC).

The economy has suffered in the past three years due to the combined impact of the Asian financial crisis and the effects of El Nino on agriculture. The effect of the financial crisis on the Philippines, however, has not been as severe as in its neighboring countries. The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at approximately 4 percent last year, and at 2.5 percent during the first quarter of 2001. The country's economy is expected to grow by 4 percent in the second half of the year.

As of April 2001, the country's labour market showed some signs of improvement despite the sluggish domestic economy. In absolute terms, employment rose from 27.2 million to 29.1 million between April 2000 and April 2001. The increase in employment, however, was not high enough to match the expansion of the labour force (2.03 million) and the unemployment rate in April only slightly decreased to 13.3 percent from 13.9 percent in 2000.

Government

The Secretary of the Department of Labour and Employment is Ms. Patricia A. Sto. Tomas. She is assisted by three Undersecretaries covering three clusters: Mr. Manuel Imson on Employment Promotion and Manpower Development, Mr. Arturo D. Brion on Labour Relations, and Mr. Jose Espanol on Workers' Protection and Welfare.

The Philippines is a member of the ILO since 1948. The Philippine Government is a Deputy Member of the Governing Body for the period 1999-2002, while a Philippine Employers' representative, Mr. Ancheta K. Tan is Employers' Substitute Member. Two sessions of the International Labour Conference have been presided by a Philippine Secretary of Labour: by Mr. Blas F. Ople in 1975, and by Ms. Sto. Tomas in 2001. Former Labour and Employment Secretary Nieves Confesor chaired the ILO Governing Body in 1994. Ms. Confessor was appointed by the Governing Body as one of the Expert-Advisers on the ILO Declaration and was elected Chairperson of that group at its 2000 and 2001 sessions.

Employers

Employers are represented by the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP), affiliated with the IOE.

Workers are represented by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) which is an affiliate of the ICFTU and major trade unions such as the Federation of Free Workers (FFW), Trade Unions of the Philippines and Allied Services (TUPAS), Lakas Manggagawa Labor Center (LMLC), the Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) and others. There are also several independent trade unions like the Pambansang Diwa ng Manggagawang Pilipino (PDMP), the National Confederation of Labour (NCL), the National Federation of Labour Unions (NAFLU), the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU), Philippine Society Labour Unions (PSSLU) and others.

Technical cooperation activities in the Philippines cover broad areas: indigenous peoples through INDISCO; cooperatives through COOPNET/COOPREFORM; peace-building initiatives in Mindanao focusing on vocational training and entrepreneurship for rebel returnees, MNLF and their families; IPEC programmes; trade unions and the informal sector; policy and programme formulation on the informal sector; and local development planning through nationwide application of Integrated Rural Accessibility Planning (IRAP), among other activities. Philippines is one of the four countries in Asia that participates in the ILO/ADB RETA project for strengthening the role of labour standards in these countries.

With the technical support of the multidisciplinary team SEAPAT and of ILO headquarters, ILO provides advisory services to the Labour Commission (LABORCOM) in the review of the 26-years old Philippine Labour Code. A study on income security focusing on employment and active labour market policies has been undertaken as part of ongoing joint activities of the ILO/World Bank/Japan on the impact of financial crisis. A meeting on this theme was held in Manila in March 2000. A program for strengthening the capacity of ECOP to develop policy positions and provide services to members is also being implemented.

The Philippines is one of the four countries selected by ILO to operationalise the concept of Decent Work at the country level. The notion of Decent Work found strong support in the National Employment Summit held in Manila in March, 2001.

The Philippines has so far ratified 30 ILO Conventions of which 28 are in force. With the ratification of Convention No. 182 in November 2000, it has ratified seven fundamental Conventions.