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Palace: Duterte to pursue promise to stop endo within his term


Malacañang on Friday rejected allegations that President Rodrigo Duterte reneged on his promise to end labor-only contracting in the country after he vetoed the Security of Tenure Bill.

Senators expressed disappointment over the veto of the bill, which was certified as urgent by Duterte, while labor groups accused him of turning on his back on the workers.

“The authors of the Security of Tenure (SOT) bill, as well as the members of both houses of Congress, should not be crestfallen and disappointed nor should the labor sector feel saddened and betrayed by the President’s veto of the SOT bill,” presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a statement.

“While the President has vetoed the enrolled bill which attempts to strengthen the security of tenure of our workers, his promise to end unfair practices of contractualization, such as labor-only contracting and end-of-contract (endo) schemes, remains and will be pursued, if not soonest, still within the term of the President.”

Even without a law, Panelo said Duterte issued Executive Order 51 on Labor Day last year which prohibits the illegal contracting and sub-contracting of workers.

The Palace official said the President ordered the Secretary of Labor and Employment to inspect establishments of employers and issue compliance orders, to ensure that prohibited forms of circumventing or frustrating the entitlement of workers to security of tenure as guaranteed by the Constitution are eliminated.

Panelo also said 462,428 workers from August 2016 to May 2019 have been regularized as a result of Duterte’s “resolve to put a stop to the practice of exploiting the working class.”

“This has never been done before by any of his predecessors,” he said.

In his veto message sent to Congress on Friday, Duterte said the bill “unduly broadens the scope and definition of prohibited labor-only contracting, effectively prescribing forms of contractualization that are not particularly unfavorable to the employees involved.”

“Certain provisions like the intended scope of prohibited contracting, will certainly result in placing capital at a difficult situation which necessarily stifles the rights of our Filipino labor force in the future,” Panelo said.

“As a thinking and pragmatic President, Duterte realized that an over reaching prohibition and without identifying exemptions on farming out services, deemed legitimate contracting, will adversely affect businesses, and trigger their closure thereby cause the termination of employment of our workers.”

He said the enactment of the bill could discourage investment and remove the “great potential” of providing employment.

“The constitutional guarantee of security of tenure does not authorize this government to oppress or cause the self-destruction of our employers,” he added.

Panelo urged Congress to continue crafting a policy that “will uphold both social justice and fair play by giving due consideration on the socio-economic survival of our nation.”

“We are confident that the honourable members of Congress will legislate a law that will be both protective of the rights of the workers and the business sector that not only will bring industrial equanimity but propel further the economy to greater heights for the betterment of our country and people,” he said. —LDF, GMA News

 

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