Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III on Thursday, April 19, said President Rodrigo R. Duterte will certify the Security of Tenure bill pending in the Senate as a priority bill, instead of signing an executive order on contractualization .
“After going through the three proposed EO to be signed by the President, the consensus was that instead of the President signing an executive order on the issue of contractualization, he will instead certify as a priority bill the bill that is now pending in the Senate on security of tenure,” he said during a press briefing in Manila.
Mr. Bello said the decision was made at a meeting last Friday with Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea.

Also on Thursday, Malacañang confirmed that the President will no longer sign the EO, saying that it was “better to leave the matter of ‘endo’ (end of contractualization) to Congress.”
“The position of Secretary Bello now, which I think is the position of Malacañang as well… let’s see what kind of legislation Congress will finally be approved, noting that the matter is now pending in the Senate alone, because the House already passed its version,” presidential spokesperson Harry L. Roque, Jr. said during a press briefing.
The bill being referred to is Senate Bill No. 1116 or the proposed End of Contractualization Act of 2016 introduced by Senator Emmanuel Joel J. Villanueva, chair of the Senate committee on labor, employment and human resources development.
The proposed measure remained pending at the committee level. Meanwhile, its counterpart measure at the House of Representatives, House Bill No. 6908, was approved on third and final reading last Jan. 29.
The Senate bill seeks to provide stricter regulations on contractualization and simplifies the classification of employees to regular and probationary. It also prohibits labor-only or manpower contracting and provides unfair labor practices in a contracting or subcontracting arrangement.
In a statement, Mr. Villanueva reiterated that he still expects Malacañang to issue an EO as guidance for a policy on the labor practice.
“We still expect Malacañang to issue an EO to provide the framework and guidance for the implementation of a national policy on contractualization. We should know the clear position of the executive on this matter. We want to ensure that what we are legislating is useful and effective,” he said.
He said he also plans to call the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) for another round of discussions on the bill when Congress resumes on May.
“As the implementing agency in charge of enforcing the laws on contractualization, we believe that the DoLE’s participation in the policy-making process is crucial,” he said.
“We will release the committee report as soon as we finished circulating the draft to the senators for inputs. The President’s certification will definitely help in the passage of a new law governing endo,” he added.
Sought for comment, Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) spokesperson Alan A. Tanjusay echoed Mr. Villanueva’s statements that the EO was still needed to guide legislators on crafting policies.
“It needs Duterte EO approval for it to move forward,” he said in a text message.
Also in a statement, Mr. Tanjusay still urged Mr. Duterte to sign the “labor-drafted” EO, which restores the norm of direct hiring of companies, in order to fulfill his earlier promise to labor groups.
“For the sake of millions of endo workers enslaved in poverty by contractualization work scheme, we urge President Duterte to please sign the labor-drafted EO. The signing of the EO is the concrete manifestation of meeting his promise to end Endo and serve as policy guidance to the fate and direction of Security of Tenure bill now pending in Congress,” he said.
For his part, Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) president Donald G. Dee said the group is already studying the pending Senate bill.
“We’re already looking at it. We’ll be discussing it among ourselves then with the senators once we have established what are the provisions that are objectionable to us,” he said in a phone interview. — Camille A. Aguinaldo

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