Baldoz Picks New Labatt for HK
By Betty Santos
LABOR Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz has chosen a new labor attache to head the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Hong Kong.
Baldoz said the new Labatt would replace current POLO chief Nenita Garcia, who has been on sick leave since late October.
Garcia, who is now in Manila, has reportedly been advised by her doctors to take a rest from the stressful work in Hong Kong. Baldoz said she would be sent to Italy once she gets well.
“She is on sick leave now. She will be transferred to Milan,” said Baldoz told Hong Kong News.
Labor Undersecretary Nicon Fameronag disclosed that Garcia will be replaced by labor official Jalilo dela Torre, who had already served in Hong Kong.
Dela Torre is currently assigned at the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-National Reintegration Center for OFWs.
“He’s now preparing his papers. Probably by December, he would already assume the post as the new labor attache in Hong Kong,” Fameronag said.
Prior to his new assignment, Dela Torre was also posted in Australia and Saudi Arabia.
A lawyer, Dela Torre started his career at the DOLE in 1979, occupying various technical and executive positions.
Prior to coming to Canberra, he was DOLE Regional Director in Davao City.
His foreign postings included assignments in Hong Kong, Saudi Arabia and Israel from 1999 to 2005.
Together with Hong Kong lawyers Anthony Upham, Francis Burkett and Eric Curlewis, he co-authored “Survive Hong Kong,” a handbook for foreign domestic helpers in Hong Kong.
He is credited with initiating many creative and pioneering job and livelihood programs of the DOLE such as the GMA Kiosks, TechReady, Gro Micro, Project EntrepreNurse, JobsFit, among others.
For his contributions to DOLE, he was awarded the Department’s Lingkod Manggagawa for 2010, Best Innovation, individual category.
Dela Torre earned a degree in Foreign Service from the University of the Philippines–Diliman in 1978 and studied law at the University of Negros Occidental-Recoletos and the University of San Jose-Recoletos, Cebu. He successfully passed the 1989 bar exams, landing in the Top Ten.