On May 16, 2017, members of the Fishing and Canning Industrial Tripartite Council (ITC) comprising 18 fishing and canning companies in Zamboanga Peninsula were gathered for a learning session on Tripartism facilitated by Department of Labor and Employment Regional Office IX (DOLE9)'s Regional Director Ofelia B. Domingo at the LM Metro Hotel, Zamboanga City.

In Region 9, the fishing and canning industry plays a key role in the generation of employment and contributes about half of the total agricultural output in the Region's Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) and continuously shows a promising increase yearly.

According to Director Domingo, "The learning session on Tripartism is vital and forms an integral part of DOLE's campaign to strengthen the ITCs in the Peninsula for them to effectively contribute in shaping labor, social and economic policies and programs of the government."

She further added that through the cooperation of the tripartite bodies, they can come up with best practices that can serve as a benchmark for other industries to exemplify and will be able to formulate solutions to problems being faced by certain industries by bringing up their concerns in consultative meetings.

The learning session covered the highlights on the definition and history of Tripartism, types of tripartite bodies, functions of the ITCs and plans for the re-activation of a few inactive ITCs in Region 9. The discussion centered heavily on how tripartism can efficiently be a vehicle for important issues and concerns to be addressed at the national level.

At the end of the session, Director Domingo thanked the members of the ITC in attendance and encouraged them to be more active and participative in future learning sessions and meetings.

(END/Karen Claire Grafia)