Incoming Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma on Tuesday said he plans to “know the bottlenecks in the labor sector and employer sector” to create more local employment and make working abroad a mere “option” for Filipinos.,President-in-waiting Bongbong Marcos offered Laguesma the opportunity to head his administration’s Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE), which the latter accepted on Monday.,“One of the first things that I will be doing is sitting down with the labor sector and employer sector. I will try to come up with some workable formula, maybe it’s not the perfect solution at this moment, considering the pandemic,” Laguesma said in a television interview.,“I can be an influencer, in the right sense of the word. I can motivate people because I would be leading by example,” he added, considering of his connections with various companies in the past.,His “foremost mission” is to push for programs creating more local employment, lamenting the fact that countless migrant Filipino workers miss the chance to see their children grow as they had to work abroad for higher income.,“While I see overseas employment providing us needed foreign exchange remittances, I also look at the social cost that go with it,” Laguesma noted.,While remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFW) support the Philippine economy, Laguesma pointed out that it comes at a personal cost: parents leaving their children in the Philippines, missing out on their childhoods, and “too much dependence” on foreign remittances.,In view of this, he said he also plans to “work directly” with the newly established Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) and “make a link” with other government agencies with labor concerns.,“My mission should be able to promote and create, with the help of industry concerned, more employment opportunities, so that our workers will have an option really of choosing to stay with their families, maybe not with very lucrative salaries, but enjoying and probably watching the growing up of their own children,” he said.,Laguesma stressed that under his leadership, DoLE would focus on “making things simpler for the employees and the workers”.,“We want to deliver services promptly and correctly. I think the social partners—the labor sector and the employer sector—would join me in the call for good governance, we can help. That means providing ease in business, we are contributory to a friendly environment that will encourage existing investors to invest more and probably more attract more investors,” he said.,“It’s very critical for me, I am only part of a team, that we would work together.”,Laguesma is one of the seven confirmed members of the incoming Marcos Cabinet, as of 23 May.,Others are Vic Rodriguez (Executive Secretary), Sara Duterte-Carpio (Education secretary), Benhur Abalos (Interior Secretary), Arsenio Balisacan (socioeconomic planning Secretary), Susan Ople (Migrant Workers Secretary), and Jesus Crispin Remulla (Justice).