Asks Congress to rectify vetoed provisions for a ‘healthy balance’ law
President Rodrigo Duterte called on Congress to rectify the vetoed provisions of the security of tenure bill as he reiterated his commitment to stop “endo,” the practice by which employers hire and rehire contractual employees after five months to avoid giving them benefits as full-time employees
Palace spokesman Martin Andanar issued the statement after Senate President and vice presidential candidate Vicente Sotto III criticized Duterte for failing to sign the bill.
In 2016, Duterte vowed to stop “endo,” which is short for “end of contract,” but he vetoed an anti-endo bill in 2019.
“The version submitted by Congress ‘unduly broadens the scope and definition of prohibited labor-only contracting, effectively prescribing forms of contractualization that are not particularly unfavorable to employees involved’,” Andanar said, quoting the President’s veto message.
Duterte said there should be a “healthy balance” between the conflicting interests of laborers and employers.
Despite the rejection of the security of tenure bill, the Palace official said that Duterte signed an executive order in May 2018 to stop the illegal contracting and subcontracting arrangements between employers and their employees.
“A clear example is Executive Order No. 51 which PRRD signed in 2018 that strictly prohibits Andanar also maintained that Duterte is still bent on putting an end to abusive employment practices.
Sotto, in a speech during a sortie in Cebu, said “endo” continues because Duterte vetoed the measure passed by Congress.
“One of the promises in 2016 is ending contractualization, right? What did the Senate do? We passed it,” the vice presidential bet said.
“But what happened? It was vetoed by the President. He did not want to sign it into law. It was sent back to us,” Sotto added.
Re-electionist Senator Risa Hontiveros on Thursday said she will go back to the Senate and fight for the security of tenure bill that Duterte failed to sign again.
Together with different organizations and workers’ unions, Hontiveros was the first to file a security of tenure bill.
“We worked hard on this up to the end together with Senate President Vicente Sotto III,” she said. “But we all failed. We are sad the Palace did not support this.”