DOLE to scrap department order on 'endo'

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has vowed to repeal a department order which critics blamed for legalizing the controversial “endo” or “end of contract” many employers practice to the detriment of employees.

He ordered the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to review Department Order 18-A series of 2011, which supposedly legalized labor contractualization.

"Yung Department Order 18-A, pinapa-review ko ... I-re-repeal natin 'yan ... ASAP... Inabutan ko lang 'yan, eh. Dapat naman siguro within this year," he told reporters at the sidelines of the congressional hearings on the DOLE's proposed P13.293 billion budget for 2017.

The order allows a tripartite relationship of contracting or subcontracting agreement among the principal employer, the contracting agency, and the workers provided there is an employer-employee relationship between the contractor and the employees.

Under the Labor Code, the Labor secretary may restrict or prohibit the contracting-out of labor to protect the rights of workers, as well as make appropriate distinctions between labor-only contracting and job contracting, and determine who among the parties involved should be considered as the employer, to prevent any violation or circumvention of any provision of the Code.

Bello said he aims to eradicate the practice of endo by next year. “By the end of 2017,  it will already be a thing of the past.”

Labor Undersecretary Ciriaco Lagunzad III said the department could not scrap the order right away as contractual work has yet to be regulated.

"Mayroong nagpanukala na alisin agad natin 'yun pero nakita natin na pag inalis natin ang DO 18-A, wala pong magiging regulasyon patungkol sa contractual work, at magiging kanya-kanya ang mababatayan ng contractual worker,” he said.

At present, Lagunzad said the DOLE is looking into some 500,000 business establishments to determine how many contractual workers they employ.

"Once that is determined and findings are submitted, then an enforcement order can be issued. Malalaman natin ilan ang mga regular na endo," he said.

Bello said some business groups, such the Employers' Confederation Conference of the Philippines and the Filipino-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, have asked for at least one month to learn more about labor contractualization because they are supposedly confused.

"Nalilito ang mga businessmen, eh. Sabi nila, please ask your people to educate us what is endo, and what is contractualization, and at the moment we are educated on this issue, sila na mismo ang mag-ko-comply sa provisions ng Labor Code sa isyu ng security of tenure,” he said. — VDS, GMA News