Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, July 30) — After his controversial rejection of the proposed ban on labor contracting, President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to certify the measure as urgent the second time around.
This move will allow the 18th Congress to fast-track the passage of the Security of Tenure (SOT) bill, which was refiled by Senator Joel Villanueva. This is the exact copy of the bill that Duterte had vetoed, but Malacañang expects it will be amended to reflect the proposal being drafted by the Labor Department.
“The suggestion by the Department of Labor could be the subject of any amendment to the bill,” Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a media briefing Tuesday.
When asked if the President will certify the measure as urgent, Panelo said, “I think so, yes.”
Duterte also marked the bill as urgent in September 2018 as labor groups called on him to fulfill his campaign promise of putting an end to all forms of illegal contractualization or “endo.”
“Endo” or “end of contract” is a highly-contested form of contractualization widely practiced in the country. Under this practice, workers are hired for not more than five months. Employers then don’t need to regularize them on the sixth month as mandated by the Labor Code.
Duterte said he vetoed the SOT bill as it “unduly broadens” the scope of definition of labor contracting, destroying the “delicate balance” between the conflicting interests of laborers and employers. Lawmakers have questioned why the President would reject a priority measure and have since called on the executive to clarify how it wants labor contracting defined.
