Makabayan bloc deplores forgotten promise on endo

END CONTRACTUALIZATION Protesting workers press President Duterte to sign the executive order ending the practice of labor contracting in front of the Department of Labor and Employment main office in Manila on Monday. —MARIANNE BERMUDEZ

Lawmakers aligned with the Makabayan bloc are convinced that President Rodrigo Duterte has already forgotten his campaign promise of ending contractualization and the “end-of-contract” labor policy.

“The recent pronouncement of Malacañang only confirms our previous position na matagal nang inabandona at tinalikuran ni Pangulong Duterte ang kanyang pangako na tapusin ang endo,” Anakpawis Representative Ariel Casilao said in a press briefing held on Thursday afternoon.

Casilao said that Duterte’s decision to leave the removal of endo to Congress would only make conditions worse for employees both in the public and private sector.

“Talagang mas lalala pa ang kondisyon ng mga manggagawa with the version of the House [of Representatives] on the security of tenure bill, and the version of the Senate,” Casilao said.

“It will only strengthen and institutionalize further practice of contractualization, in a new definition and way of circumventing the very rights of the workers to be secured in their work places.”

According to the lawmakers, this will only pave the way for more disputes, more transport strikes and labor rallies which can make the country’s economy unstable.

Grave betrayal

Gabriela Representative Arlene Brosas said that Duterte will gravely betray Filipino workers if he refuses to sign an executive order eradicating contractualization.

“June 2016 nang una pang lumabas na humihiling ang mga manggagawa na sila ay pag-usapan, magkaroon ng mga dialogue, at ipalabas ang executive order na nagsasabing iregular ang mga mangagawa natin,” Brosas said.

“Pero hindi po to naganap, tapos ngayon, kongreso na lamang daw ang siyang magdesisiyon tungkol dito.  Pero alam na alam natin na ang nilalaman ng House Bill 6908 ay fake security of tenure bill.”

Brosas explained that the regularization of employees would fall on the hands of a particular human resource agency, not on the principal company where an employee works.

“Hindi niya sasagutin ang pagreregularisa ng mga manggagawa natin,” she said.