2025-08-12 to 2025-08-14

High?level meeting with International Labour Organization (ILO) Philippines representative

COTABATO CITY, Philippines — The International Labour Organization (ILO) of the United Nations and the Ministry of Labor and Employment–Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (MoLE-BARMM) are set to intensify cooperation in programs aimed at empowering BARMM’s labor sector. ILO’s representative to the Philippines, Khalid Hassan, and Bangsamoro Labor and Employment Minister Muslimin Sema met on Thursday, August 14, in Cotabato City to discuss the continuation of joint efforts to address child labor in BARMM and strengthen partnerships in improving the skills of domestic workers. The ILO’s office in Cotabato, MoLE-BARMM, the administration of Cotabato City Mayor Bruce Matabalao, and local executives in Maguindanao del Norte and Maguindanao del Sur have jointly rescued and re-enrolled 624 child laborers in schools over the past 24 months. Matabalao’s office also implements projects to ensure the welfare of the labor sector in Cotabato City, BARMM’s regional capital. “We shall provide you with support for the development of the labor sector in the region,” Hassan, a Pakistani national, told Sema during their meeting at MoLE-BARMM’s office at the Bangsamoro capitol in Cotabato City. Sema and Hassan also discussed the need to establish, with the help of foreign benefactors, a technical employment-generation mechanism in the autonomous region. Sema added that MoLE-BARMM has locally funded programs on labor force skills development to support the ministry’s job placement initiatives. Hassan and Sema, who is chairman of the Moro National Liberation Front that has a peace agreement with Malacañang, also discussed the need to set up a data management system to identify and record the skills of overseas workers, thereby facilitating programs that can quickly connect them to potential employers.