Palace: Duterte might veto bill ending ‘endo’

MALACAÑANG on Thursday said President Rodrigo Duterte might consider vetoing Senate Bill 1826, or the Security of Tenure (SoT) measure, after one of his economic managers suggested “tweaking” it, which also prompted responses from state agencies.

One of them, the Department of Finance said the measure aimed at ending contractualization in the country — informally known as endo, or “end of contract” — must not affect the country’s competitiveness, while another — the Department of Trade and Industry — described the proposed law’s current form as all right.

In a press briefing, Palace spokesman Salvador Panelo said Duterte was “always open to suggestion[s],” and “if he feels that signing the law will create [negative] effects [on] major players, he might consider vetoing it.”

“But if he does not feel that way, he will sign that into law. That is how the President is,” he added.

Panelo’s statements were in response to Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia saying on Wednesday that there was a “need for tweaking [the bill] to address some of [its] provisions.”

The bill “should be something that will benefit not only employers, but also workers,” he stressed, because “if investments are deterred because of the SoT, then it’s not good for the workers.”

According to Panelo, Duterte would veto the bill if he feels Pernia’s observations are good enough. He said the President might still turn it into a win-win situation for everyone involved.

“The opposition of the business sector could be [appeased] with a compromise. So, if he will veto the bill, then a member of Congress can introduce another one with a win-win compromise solution.” he said.

In a July 16 statement, various business chambers and industry groups urged Duterte to veto the measure, which will lapse into law if not signed by July 27.

They called the bill “redundant, as there are previously approved laws that already protect workers from endo.”

‘Reasonably rigid’

In a message to reporters on Wednesday night, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez 3rd said his department supported “Secretary Pernia’s position and would like to add that the law should not negatively affect the competitiveness of the Philippines as an investment destination.”

“And be mindful that the Supreme Court, in several occasions, has ruled that while the Philippine Constitution provides that the State should protect the rights of workers and promote their welfare, such constitutional policy is not intended to oppress or destroy capital and management,” he added.

For his part, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez expressed support for the bill, noting that its provisions are “reasonably rigid.”

“There’s a lot of lobbying for the Security of Tenure bill. I’m OK with the current version. It is reasonably rigid. But if there’s something that can be changed, it’s the [use of and or or] in the labor-only contracting [classification],” Lopez told reporters on the sidelines of the Pondo sa Pagbabago at Pag-asenso forum in Pasay City.

Under the measure, labor-only contracting occurs when the job contractor merely supplies, recruits and assigns workers to a contractee; workers supplied to the contractee perform tasks that are listed by the industry to be directly related to the core business; and the contractee has direct control and supervision of the workers.

“Remember that there are three definitions of labor-only contracting. Now, if you violate one, you will be classified as labor-only contracting immediately. It is more rigid,” Lopez said.

The good thing about the bill, he added, is that it legitimizes certain forms of contractualization.

“They [firms] can have [a] contractor arrangement in terms of project-based work or season-based employment,” Lopez said.

The bill was sponsored by Sen. Joel Villanueva, who claimed that contractualization affected more than 1.9 million workers in the private sector.

Overall, about three in 10 Filipino workers are not regular and one in two non-regular workers are contractual, according to him.
The measure was transmitted to Malacañang for Duterte’s signature on June 27.

WITH MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO AND ANNA LEAH E. GONZALES

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