Senators disappointed with veto of anti-endo bill, to refile measure

Senate President Vicente Sotto III said Friday the Senate will again push for the approval of a Security of Tenure or "anti-endo" bill in the 18th Congress after President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed the measure the 17th Congress had passed.

“We will refile and prioritize [it]. (We) will find an acceptable version,” Sotto said in a text message to GMA News Online.

In a separate text message, the Senate leader said he was “crestfallen but that's how democracy works. And Congress being dynamic, can refile [and have the bill passed again].”

Senator Joel Villanueva, chairperson of the labor committee, expressed disappointment as workers waited and fought for the bill for 20 years only for it to be vetoed in the end.

Villanueva said members of Congress tried to make the bill fair for all sectors by putting protection both for workers and businessmen. He said he already expected that the bill will be blocked but he continued pushing for it for the sake of the workers.

“Bilang mga pinuno ng pamahalaan, inaasahan po tayong manindigan para sa mga inaapi at gawin ang nararapat para maging patas ang lipunan. Ngunit ang katotohanan, minsan ay mas matimbang ang mga makapangyarihan at naghaharing-uri. Ang pagka veto ng ENDO ay isa sa mga manipistasyon ng mga ganitong pagkakataon,” he said.

Villanueva said he will be refiling the bill in the 18th Congress.

Certified as urgent

Minority Leader Franklin Drilon also said he was saddened with the President’s decision because the Senate worked hard for its passage as it was certified as urgent.

“Our workers have waited for two decades to finally have legislation that would prohibit illegal company practices of contractualization and provide them with security of tenure. They came into 2016 with very high hopes that the practice would be prohibited. Now, we are back to square one,” he said.

He said the bill can be refiled but the executive branch must first get its act together.

“We have frontline departments (DOLE and NEDA) with opposing views. We are unclear as to what the policy is. The bill passed by Congress essentially mirrors DOLE’s position but apparently the NEDA has a different one – which was eventually concurred in by the President,” he said.

“With the veto message, it seems like the policy direction has been set. Any attempt to refile the bill could be an exercise in futility without the administration’s support,” he added.

Drilon said the Labor Department can prohibit contractualization even without amending the Labor Code, “if indeed, the administration wants to end ‘endo’.”

Majority Leader Juan Miguel Zubiri said it makes no sense to him why Malacañang would declare the bill as a priority measure then just to veto it after its approval.

“They put pressure on us on why we haven’t acted on it after the House of Representatives passed it and the Palace came out with the certification that it was a priority measure and the Senate was sitting on it. I’m totally bewildered on this new development. Does that mean that a certification from the Palace no longer means that it is a priority?” he asked.

He expressed hope that the matter be clarified as this would put the other so called “priority measures” in question.

“The Cabinet should get their act together as it would make us, legislators, look stupid and embarrass the President as well as he mentions these measures during the SONA,” he said.

Senator Christopher "Bong" Go, meanwhile, said he is very much willing to look into it if it will be refiled at the Senate.

“Kung saka-sakali na kailangan muli naming silipin ito at ipasa, handa po akong makinig. Kaya nga po gusto kong maiwasan ‘yung pagve-veto ng batas, I‘m more than willing to be the bridge po dito sa Senado and sa Executive para maiwasan ang pagveveto ng bills,” Go said in an ambush interview in Camp Crame.

For his part, Senator Ronald "Bato" dela Rosa said he would study the proposed measure first: “Pag-aralan ko pa ano matulong ko diyan.”

The proposed measure sought to eliminate subcontracting of labor and limit job contracting to licensed and specialized services.

It aimed to classify workers into regular and probationary employees and treat project and seasonal employees as regular employees.

Business groups opposed the bill as it would allegedly lead to job losses and would adversely affect the economy.

On Friday morning, Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo confirmed to reporters that Duterte rejected the Security of Tenure bill.

The possible veto of the bill surfaced even before the Senate approved it on third and final reading before the 17th Congress adjourned.

Louie Corral, TUCP labor center vice president, earlier said he personally saw a handwritten note where the measures being opposed were listed.

“Katabi ko n’un si Secretary (Adelini) Sitoy ng PLLO (Presidential Legislative Liaison Office) sa VIP gallery ng Senate nung gabi na pinasa ang endo bill. Nakita ko ‘yung handwritten note, number 6 ‘yung security of tenure bill, Senate Bill 1826,” he told GMA News Online over the phone last May.

“So I asked Sec. Sitoy, sabi ko secretary nag-usap na tayo nito, ikaw pa nga ang nag-encourage sa akin na itulak natin ito hanggang dulo, he was encouraging us to push it to the maximum so we pushed this bill, so I do not know,” he added.

He said Finance secretary Carlos Dominguez and the rest of the economic managers were objecting the passage of the bill as it will have negative impact on the economy, and contrary to the interest of management flexibility.

Sought for comment, Sitoy said in a text message to GMA News Online that the DOF is no longer opposing the bill.

Aside from the Security of Tenure bill, at least seven bills have been vetoed by the President, including those he certified as urgent:

• Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Act
• Positive Discipline of Children Act
• Office of the Solicitor General
• Strengthened Philippine Coconut Authority
• Granting Survivorship Benefits
• Regional Investment and Infrastructure Coordinating Hub
• Dinagat Islands Birth Anniversary of Ruben Ecleo Sr.

— with reports from Anna Felicia Bajo/LBG/RSJ, GMA News