BY IME SORNITO and GLENDA TAYONA
ILOILO City – President Rodrigo Duterte’s signing of an executive order (EO) banning illegal contracting or subcontracting failed to stop protests yesterday, Labor Day.
In this city, the protesters, which the Police Regional Office 6 estimated to be around 2,000, gathered at the Iloilo provincial capitol grounds. They demanded for an end to “endo” or labor contractualization and for higher wages.
In Cebu City yesterday morning, Duterte announced he had signed an EO to strengthen employees’ security of tenure.
“I hope that with all that I can do legally, there could be an impact on your complaint that is non-security of tenure,” said Duterte.
But protesters here did not buy the President’s pronouncements. Panay Alliance -Karapatan secretary general Reylan Vergara said a law outlawing labor contractualization was better.
In the nation’s capital, Bayan Muna’s Cong. Carlos Zarate explained the protesters’ dissatisfaction. “This EO is useless. The Labor Code already prohibits labor-only contracting. Ang kailangan ngayon ay maglabas ng policy na ipagbawal ang lahat na forms of job contracting,” he said.
Anakpawis’ Cong. Ariel Casilao agreed with Zarate. “Prohibiting (labor-only contracting) is already there but employers continue to circumvent and abuse,” he said.
Protesters here led by Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) Panay assembled at the University of the Philippines Visayas Iloilo City campus in Molo district then marched to the Iloilo provincial capitol.
They also criticized the total closure of Boracay Island. This displaced 36,000 formal and non-formal workers there, said Elmer Forro, secretary general of Bayan-Panay.
“To quell the people’s resistance, Duterte placed Boracay under a de facto martial law. More than 800 armed men were deployed in the island. Wearing fatigue uniforms and long firearms, police officers are being used to instill fear among the people when delivering notices to vacate and show cause orders, and even enforcing them to self-demolish their houses,” read part of Bayan-Panay’s Labor Day statement.
The group dismissed the government’s six-month rehabilitation of Boracay as a “stunt.”
“Last week, it was exposed by his Environment secretary himself that the Galaxy Entertainment Group has already acquired the 23-hectare land area in Boracay for the construction of a mega casino,” it claimed.
Anakbayan-Panay spokesperson Bryan Bosque called for the reopening of Boracay. He said the “emergency employment” offered by the Labor department of displaced workers in the island was only good for 30 days.
In Cebu City, Duterte clarified that Congress also needed to do its part to amend the existing Labor Code which he described as “outdated.”
“I remain firm in my commitment to put an end to ‘endo’ and illegal contractualization. However, I believe that to implement an effective and lasting solution to the problems brought about by contractualization, Congress needs to enact a law amending the Labor Code,” Duterte said.
Although an executive order could help “alleviate” the problem, he said it was still the Congress that needed to do the work.
“A mere executive order can only do so much because you have to change or modify or entirely aggregate some of the provisions,” he said.
“I have certified as urgent (the passage) of the bill on security of tenure to once and for all address the issue and provide long-term solutions that would further strengthen the workers’ right to security of tenure,” the President said. (With a report from the Philippine News Agency/PN)
