President Rodrigo Duterte has certified urgent a Senate bill to ensure security of tenure for all workers and end contractualization, one of his election campaign promises.

The President certified “the necessity of the immediate enactment” of Senate Bill No. 1826 in a Sept. 21 letter to Senate President Vicente Sotto III.

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In his letter, the President said the measure was necessary “to strengthen workers’ security of tenure by prohibiting the prevalent practices of contractualization and labor-only contracting, which continue to immerse our workers in a quagmire of poverty and unemployment.”

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said the certification was a fulfillment of the President’s 2016 election campaign promise to end all forms of contractualization.

Contractualization is the practice by employers of hiring workers for a period short of the six months required before they could become regular employees with full benefits.

At the end of their contract, or “endo,” workers could be rehired or dismissed by employers with no further obligations to them.

Removing ‘ambiguities’

In a statement, Sen. Joel Villanueva, the bill’s main author, hailed the President’s move, saying the proposed law would remove “ambiguities” in the Labor Code.

He said security of tenure would give social protection to workers, making them “more efficient and more productive.”

Villanueva said the measure would prohibit labor-only contracting, limit job contracting to licensed and specialized services, classify workers into regular and probationary employees and treat project and seasonal employees as regular employees, provide security of tenure, clarify standards on probationary employment, and provide a “Transition Support Program” for employees while they are not at work or transitioning in between jobs.

The House of Representatives passed on third and final reading its own version of the bill in January.

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40M workers to benefit

The House appropriations committee chair, Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, on Tuesday said the bill would benefit the country’s over 40 million workers as well as college graduates poised to enter the workforce.

Citing government statistics, Nograles said 30 percent of all Filipino workers were nonregular workers, half of them contractual.

The moderate labor federation, Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP), welcomed Mr. Duterte’s urgent certification and urged lawmakers not to water down the measure.

“Workers need an uplifting Christmas gift in the midst of their current struggles with the spiraling cost of living and genuine hope for a far better 2019,” ALU-TUCP said in a statement.

The approved Senate and House bills will then be consolidated into a final version and ratified by both chambers before the President signs it into law.

At the House, lawmakers crossed party lines to support the President’s certification.

‘Welcome and long awaited’

In a statement, opposition lawmakers said the President’s move was “welcome and long awaited.”

Akbayan Rep. Tom Villarin, one of the principal authors of the House version, called contractualization a form of “modern-day slavery.”

The House version also bans labor-only contracting by manpower agencies that do not have capital or equipment, or do not control the means or methods of work by the employees, or employs persons who perform work that is not directly related to the principal business of the employer.

Suspicions

Makabayan lawmakers, however, remained suspicious of the two versions of the bill.

Gabriela Reps. Arlene Brosas and Emmi de Jesus said the certified bill provided “fake” security of tenure.

They said both versions of the bill legalized contractualization as they contained provisions for the licensing of contractors and manpower agencies.

“What the measure only bans is labor-only contracting or the tapping of contractors, [who] lack capitalization and machineries,” they said. —Reports from Julie M. Aurelio, Leila B. Salaverria, Jerome Aning and Jovic

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