End of ‘endo’ another one of Duterte’s ‘false promises,’ says Alejano

For Magdalo party-list Representative Gary Alejano, putting an end to contractualization is now just one of President Rodrigo Duterte's "false" campaign promises.

Alejano made the remark after Malacañang said that it alone cannot put an end to the practice of contractualization, saying that legislation is needed for it.

"Like most of Duterte’s pronouncements, his promise to end ‘ENDO’ (end of contract) was only a false promise made to gather public approval during election season," Alejano said in a statement.

"Once seated in power, he effectively turned his back on the millions of Filipinos who trusted him to abolish contractualization of employees," he added.

At a press briefing on Monday, Senior Deputy Executive Secretary Menardo Guevarra stressed that a law, and not merely an executive order, is necessary to have a total ban on contractualization.

“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," he 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.

Alejano said that if ending contractualization was truly a priority of the Duterte administration, then it should have proposed its version of a bill for that purpose, sponsor it through its allies in Congress, and mark it as "urgent."

"They were able to strong-arm and rail-road measures like the TRAIN Law, why not extend the same amount of effort for bills that would actually benefit the people?" he added.

With the recent development, Alejano said that it becomes clearer that Duterte is not willing to exercise his political will to put an end to contractualization.

"Inamin na ng pangulo na hindi niya kayang hikayatin ang mga kapitalista para suportahan ang pagtigil ng ENDO. Ngayon naman ay ipinapasa na niya ang tungkulin na ito sa kongreso," he said.

"Idagdag nalang natin ito sa listahan ng mga pangakong napako sa ilalim ng administrasyong ito," he added. — Erwin Colcol/RSJ, GMA News