MANILA - Some 25,000 contractual employees gained regular status in the last two weeks, representing 10 percent of workers trapped in “endo” that President Rodrigo Duterte hopes to end by the end of next year, his labor minister said Tuesday.

Duterte assumed office on June 30, promising to stop employers from firing workers before their sixth month of work to avoid paying benefits due to regular workers.

“The target is zero endo, zero contractuals by the end of year 2017 and it is doable,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III told reporters.

Bello said employers have been “cooperating” with the government and a “win-win solution” was being worked out.

Contractualization is allowed when a company is engaged in a special project or when seasonal demand requires a larger workforce, he said.