Banana Industry Adopts Voluntary Code of Good Practices
Following the adoption of Davao City’s information and communications technology-business process outsourcing (ICT-BPO) industry of a voluntary code of good practices, the banana industry adopts its own voluntary code, a key DOLE reform measure under the President’s labor and employment agenda.
The reform seeks to move industries away from over dependence on government in addressing industry-specific issues towards industry self-governance. The voluntary code in the banana industry is a manifestation of the intention of all parties concerned to sustain the growth of the industry that is self-policing, self-regulating and self-propelling through lesser government intervention.
After a series of consultations for the finalization of the code with the key industry players, the signing took place recently during the “Social Partnership at Work” in the presence of the Honorable Secretary Rosalinda Dimapilis-Baldoz as part of DOLE 11’s month-long 77th anniversary celebration of the Department this December on the theme, “Tuwid na Daan sa Tapat na Paglilingkod.”
The key players who signed and were involved in the formulation of the code from the management sector include the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association Inc. (PBGEA), the biggest banana exporters association in the country, Del Monte Fresh Produce, Hijo Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Cooperative (HARBCO), Davao City Chamber of Commerce, Marsman Drysdale, SUMIFRU and Unifrutti. For the labor sector, it was well represented by the TADECO Laborers Union, Federation of Independent Labor Union, Associated Labor Unions-TUCP and AMS Employees Fresh Fruits Producers Cooperative. The government sector included NCMB, TESDA, DTI, DA, RTWPB, NEDA and DSWD.
With this development, Regional Director Jalilo Dela Torre is confident that the banana industry will be able to achieve its maximum potential, and thus provide economic and business opportunities, and create more decent jobs.
“I look forward to the banana industry becoming the first truly self-governing industry in the country, with labor and management collaborating and cooperating to fix and enforce their own rules of engagement in the field of labor management relations, in corporate governance, and in the exercise of corporate citizenship, and in the preservation of our environment”, he said.
