Solons calls Duterte’s EO on endo ‘useless’

Lawmakers from progressive Makabayan bloc downplayed the signing of an executive order (EO) prohibiting illegal contracting and subcontracting, and ensuring workers’ right to security of tenure. (Photo: Department of Labor and Employment – DOLE/Facebook)

Lawmakers from progressive Makabayan bloc downplayed the signing of an executive order (EO) prohibiting illegal contracting and subcontracting, and ensuring workers’ right to security of tenure.

Bayan Muna Representative Carlos Zarate, Anakpawis Representative Ariel Casilao, and Kabataan Representative Sarah Elago said the EO is “useless” and offers “nothing new” in the fight against endo or end of contract.

“Walang silbi ang EO na nilagdaan dahil ang pagbababawal sa labor only contracting (LOC) ay nasa Labor Code na (The EO is useless because prohibiting labor only contracting is already in the Labor Code),” Zarate said on Tuesday.

“Gusto lang ng EO na ito ay pahupain ang galit ng mga manggagawa sa pagtalikod ni Pang. Duterte [President Rodrigo Duterte] sa pangako niyang wakasan ang endo at kontraktwalisasyon (The EO was just trying to appease the rage of workers due to President Duterte’s unfulfilled promise to end endo and contractualization),” he added.

The lawmaker urged the government to formalize a policy which prohibits all forms of job contracting.

Casilao, meanwhile, also pointed out that there is nothing new with the EO as it only “reiterates” existing labor laws in the country that have been proven to be “anti-worker.”

What workers demanded, according to Casilao, is a “total prohibition of contractualization by virtue of direct hiring.”

“Permissible and allowable contractualization should only be limited to seasonal and project-based work with a strict provision of prohibiting repeated hiring of project based with same principal employer,” he said.

“Dapat nailagay sana sa EO na pangunahing prinsipyo ng gobyerno ang (They should have included in the EO that the government’s primary policy is making) direct hiring as a basic principle of employment,” he continued.

Elago, for her part, said that the President “desperately” attempted to “put up a show” by signing the EO to strengthen security of tenure.

“The EO does not live up to its promise of ‘strengthening’ security of tenure even if it imposes penalties and prohibits subcontracting or illegal contracting. These are obviously not enough as we have seen how big businesses have been able to circumvent the law even with these prohibitions,” Elago stressed.

She noted that the “real evil” lies in contractualization itself and not merely in subcontracting.

“What employers avoid is the regularization of employees in order to evade providing higher wages and benefits. Big contractors [will] gain profit from this scheme,” the lawmaker said.

Elago added that accepting a “weak and compromising” EO and not pushing for the end of contractualization in all forms “would be a huge disservice to the long-fought struggle for workers’ rights and welfare.”

The EO was signed by Duterte at the start of his speech during a Labor Day event in Cebu today, May 1. Malacañang has yet to release a copy of the order.