MANILA – Labor secretary Silvestre Bello III said Wednesday he asked President Rodrigo Duterte to certify as urgent a bill that seeks to end labor contractualization.
“I just signed the letter addressed to the President recommending the issuance of the certification to certify ‘yong ating Endo bill pending before the Senate,” according to Bello.
Bello’s statement came after Presidential Legislative Liaison Office undersecretary Jacinto Paras stated that the anti-Endo bill was not among the priority measures for Duterte’s last year in office.
Duterte in 2016 vowed to stop “endo” or “end of contract,” a practice in which some employers end contracts on the fifth month and renew it for five months at a time to avoid granting workers regular employee status.
The labor secretary denied Paras’ statement, noting that Duterte certified the bill as urgent in 2019.
“‘Yan ay isa sa mga pangako ng Pangulo, ‘yong Endo bill na ‘yan. As early as 2019, nag-certify na siya ng endo bill sa Kongreso,” Bello said.
“Ang problema, maraming mga labor group na nagpo–protesta, at ayaw daw nila ‘yong Endo bill that was passed by Congress. On that basis, vineto ng ating Pangulo,” he added.
But Bello noted that the current Endo bill pending in Congress is not “substantially different” from the measure that Duterte vetoed in 2019.(ABS-CBN News)
