Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 8) — The bill seeking to end exploitative forms of contractualization has ceased to become a government priority due to a supposed lack of clamor after being vetoed in 2019, a newly appointed presidential adviser said.
“When the President vetoed it, all the sectors have not been voicing out their opinions on this, even the Department of Labor,” Presidential Adviser for Political Affairs Jacinto Paras said in a Palace briefing on Thursday.
“So, medyo hindi naging priority ito ngayon [it’s not much of a priority now],” he continued.
Paras, however, added he thinks it remains an important measure that may be enacted into law “in due time.”
In a briefing on Wednesday, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said he believes the President will still approve the Security of Tenure (SOT) or “anti-endo” bill before his term ends next year. There are just “some issues” that need to be addressed, he said.
“End of contract” or “endo” is a highly contested form of contractualization widely practiced in the country.
Under the scheme, workers are hired for not more than five months, so employers don’t need to regularize them on the sixth month as mandated by the Labor Code. It strips millions of workers of all the benefits granted by law to regular employees.
Despite certifying it as urgent, President Rodrigo Duterte in 2019 didn’t sign the SOT bill, which seeks to fulfill his campaign promise of ending illegal contractualization.
He said he rejected the landmark measure because of its “sweeping expansion” of the definition of labor-only contracting, which he argued comes at the expense of employers.
Senators lamented at how Duterte nixed the measure just before it was to lapse into law. Labor groups also staged protests to condemn the President’s move. Soon after, the same measure was refiled in both houses of Congress.
