Legislation needed for total ban on contractualization —Palace

Malacañang on Monday said the government cannot meet the demand of labor groups for a total ban on contractualization because such would need legislation.

At a press briefing, Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra explained why the Palace had yet to issue an executive order which labor groups hope would put an end to contractualization.

Ending contractualization was one of President Rodrigo Duterte's promises during the 2016 election campaign. 

“If you want something like a total ban on contractualization, you need a law to repeal or amend that particular provision of the Labor Code," Guevarra said.

"An executive order is meant only to supplement or give implementing details of what the law provides, but it cannot add or subtract or substantially alter what the law provides. That is really more for Congress to do," he added.

Issued in 1974, Presidential Decree 442 or the Labor Code contains provisions allowing contracting and subcontracting arrangements subject to the regulatory powers of the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III, for instance, came out in March 2017 with Department Order 174 that prohibits illegal contracting agreements, including the “endo” and “555” schemes.

"We can only do something about strict implementation of what we already have," Guevarra said.

Duterte, in a speech in Davao City on February 26, suggested that he cannot force employers from regularizing contractual workers even as he made clear the need for a compromise that is "acceptable to everybody."

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, however, declined to comment on what kind of compromise the President was looking into.

On February 7, Duterte met with different labor groups in Malacañang where he asked for more time to study the proposal to give workers security of tenure, self-organization, collective bargaining, and peaceful concerted activities as mandated by the Constitution.

The meeting also touched on the issues related to contractualization, wage setting, government cash subsidy, workers’ representation in tripartite bodies, recruitment and facilitation fees, and freedom of association in economic zones. —NB, GMA News