Palace to lawmakers: Stop finger-pointing, be open to ideas on endo bill

Presidential spokesperson and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo.
INQUIRER FILE PHOTO / JOAN BONDOC

MANILA, Philippines — Malacañang told lawmakers Thursday to stop the habit of finger-pointing and be open to suggestions after President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed the Security of Tenure (SOT) bill.

“Blaming, pointing, finger pointing – huwag na nating gawin iyon – palagi tayong maging bukas,” Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.

Duterte has received a sharp rebuke after he vetoed on July 26 the Security of Tenure bill, or endo bill, which he certified as urgent on September 2018.

READ: Duterte vetoes security of tenure bill | It’s official: Duterte vetoes Security of Tenure bill

Senator Joel Villanueva, the author of the proposed measure that was filed during the 17th Congress, has lamented how the “powerful and the ruling class” won with the President’s veto of the bill.

READ: Villanueva: ‘Powerful, ruling class’ won after Duterte veto on endo bill

The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (ALU-TUCP) said Duterte had “shut the hope of workers” for a better life and instead chose to listen to his economic managers who “mis[led]” him into not signing the bill.

In his veto message, Duterte said the consolidated enrolled Senate Bill No. 1826 or House Bill No. 6908 “unduly broadens the scope and definition of prohibited labor-only contracting (LOC), effectively proscribing forms of contractualization that are not particularly unfavorable to the employees involved.”

On July 29, Villanueva refiled the same bill vetoed by the President.

READ: After Duterte veto, Villanueva refiles Security of Tenure bill

But Panelo said lawmakers should be open to propositions.

“What we’re saying is, there may be… kahit anong galing natin, there may be occasions that we might not see that others can. So that’s precisely why I said, ‘let’s be open to suggestions’,” he said.

Panelo said Duterte might certify the SOT bill urgent for the second time, citing that the proposal made by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) should be incorporated in the new Anti-Endo Bill.

READ: Palace: Duterte may again certify as urgent the refiled anti-endo bill