29/08/2026
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After 1 year and 7 months in Central Visayas and a few months as interim regional director of Negros Island Region, Atty Roy L Buenafe ended his tour of duty as regional director of DOLE Central Visayas.
Buenafe who has been considered a trailblazer, brave, and staunch advocate for social justice and occupational safety and health has been appointed as regional director of the National Capital Region.
In recollection, the leader, who has gained the respect of many stakeholders for his innovative ideas and projects recalled that DOLE VII will always have a special place in his heart as he started his career in public service here in Central Visayas -- from being a newbie dabbing as the information officer, then as med-arbiter, assistant regional director and as regional director
As a boss, he is described, by those who has experienced being under him, as one who will never allow complacency and discriminating treatment of those seeking for DOLEโs programs and services.
He has zero tolerance to unsafe, unhealthy and unjustifiable practices in workplaces within his turf even if it means braving the storm, earthshaking, floods, heights, dangling wires, highlands or lowlands, in plush subdivisions or the gutter stench and narrow alleys in slums, in rainy and sunny days, at sunrise, high noon, by nightfall or at dawn, in construction sites or the labyrinthine corridors of BPO companies, in the islands, cities, towns, down to the seaports and barangays.
He is averse to workers idly resigned to starting and ending the dayโs work with sedentary mode when they have all the options to explore the outside world and keep their butts off their comfortable seats and make DOLE even more relevant in workers from formal and informal sectors, whether situated in short distances or miles or even islands apart.
As regional director of DOLE VII, he does not take every word at face value. He has a way of sifting through lies and innuendos from the truth. He sees sycophants from those who are sincere in praises and criticisms.
At times, he can be incisive in his words but he does it to let people under him understand that public service is not a personal right but a privilege gained from peopleโs trust, hence it should prevail.
While many are afraid of rallies or protests, he approaches it head on, uncowed and empowering, for to him, that is realizing the true essence of what has been guaranteed in the 1987 Philippine Constitution and relevant laws. โThey can have rallies or protests for as long as they do it peacefully. Ilaha nang katungod. (That is their [workers] right.),โ Buenafe replied when once asked about it.
With the new assignment, his assistant regional director, Emmanuel Y. Ferrer, now assumes as DOLE VII Officer-in-Charge who has made a commitment to continue or even enhance what Buenafe has started. (Roberto M Cabardo/DOLE VII AOV/LIO III)
-NCR
