V. Employment: Links and Probabilities

Occupational Disease: Cancer of the Philippine Business Sector

In the last couple of years, there is a significant increase in incidents of work-related illnesses in the country which prompted the Occupational Safety and Health Center (OSHC), a branch of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) tasked to do continuous research and information dissemination on occupational safety and health, to recommend new entrees in the existing list of accepted occupational diseases. Occupational cancers such as lung cancer, bladder cancer, leukemia, liver cancer and three more related diseases lead the newly identified health cases to which qualified employees are protected against.

Chronic renal failure is also seen climbing the charts. In fact, it appeared in SSS’ record as the most frequent basis of disability claims, albeit not necessarily reflecting work environment origin.

The increased number of occupational health risks remains bothering, but the opposite in number is seen among successful compensation benefits awarded to availing employees.

According to the preliminary results of the January 2012 Current Labor Statistics (CLS) released by the Bureau of Labor and Employment Statistics (BLES), the Philippine labor force is still largely comprised of employment from the services sector which sums to almost 20 million people. This translates to more Filipinos with employers to back-up the upheld labor right mandated by the Amended Rules on Employees’ Compensation. However, this is only on legal basis and not on actuality.

The service sectors are teeming with minimum wage employees, and they are the most vulnerable to environmental, health and safety hazards. They are also the less benefited in pre- and post-employment periods.

The Philippines has more underemployed workers at 19.3% of the entirety than those employed who commensurate to their educational attainment. They both seemingly fail to maximize their rights to compensation for occupational diseases and injuries. In a country where majority in the underemployment statistics belongs to manual laborers, with only 41.2% reaching at least high school level, the concept of such right is widely unknown. As the agricultural sector predominantly represents the labor force at 43.4% in the underemployed category alone, while only 40.7% belongs to the services sector, it is deduced that most marginalized Filipinos do not even have employers to seek for when it comes to occupational diseases and the compensations and benefits that come with it.

Certainly, there is lack of awareness among workers whenever a violation of their right to avail compensation and benefits for acquired illnesses as possibly caused and developed by environmental and occupational factors is committed. But tracing the lack of knowledge on such cases, the lack of awareness has possibly arisen from the unidentified acceptable occupational diseases.