President Rodrigo Duterte is not giving up on freedom of information bill—and may “tweak” or veto proposed legislation to ban the practice of terminating workers at the of end of their contracts (or “endo”) to avoid regularizing them, the Palace said Thursday.
Presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo offered these assessments after the President failed to mention either bill in his fourth State of the Nation Address on Monday.
Panelo said the President is not dropping his campaign promise to pass FOI into law, which would give the public easier access to public documents.
“The fact is, he issued an executive order on freedom of information precisely to show Congress that it takes only political will to do that and he showed it by example,” he told Palace reporters.
President Duterte signed an executive order establishing the freedom of information three weeks after he had assumed office in 2016, but it only covers government offices under the executive branch.
Under the order, a Filipino can make an FOI request as long as he or she presents proof of identification such as a passport or a driver’s license upon the submission of the request.
No person requesting for information shall be denied access unless the information sought “falls under any of the exceptions” covered by existing law or jurisprudence.
But Congress has yet to pass an FOI law that will institutionalize the right to information enshrined in the 1987 Constitution.
The first FOI bill was filed in Congress 29 years ago.
The FOI saw a push in the 16th Congress when the Senate passed the measure on third and final reading in 2014. But the House of Representatives failed to pass its version, even though then President Benigno Aquino III listed it as a priority bill.
Meanwhile, Panelo said, Duterte will consider the recommendation of Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia to “tweak” some of the provisions of the anti-endo bill.
READ: Workers’ welfare remains Duterte’s top priority—Palace
Panelo said the Chief Executive might veto the security of tenure bill if he has “good reasons” to do so.
“If the President feels that the observation of Secretary Pernia is a good reason to vetoing the bill, he will. After all, if you veto the bill, members of Congress can always introduce amendments or pass another bill for the signature of the President—it depends,” Panelo said.
Pernia previously urged improvements in the proposed law to balance the interests of businesses and workers.
“Essentially there is a need for tweaking to address some of the provisions. As I’ve said, you have to be sure that the law benefits not only workers but also investment. It has to be fair between workers and employers because if you want jobs to be available, you need investments,” Pernia said.
Pernia said the National Economic and Development Authority provided its comment on the bill last month.
Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III backed Pernia, saying that the anti-endo bill should not be disadvantageous to employers.
“It’s the President’s call if he will heed the suggestion of Secretary Pernia,” Panelo said.
The President will find a “win-win” solution to settle the differences of the sectors that will be affected by the measure, Panelo said.
The bill will lapse into law on Saturday, July 27, if Duterte will not act on it.
The bill was certified as urgent in September 2018 in accordance with the President’s campaign promise to end the widespread illegal employment practice.
Major business groups have opposed the proposed measure, however, arguing that it will weaken investments in the country if businesses are not given the option to engage in contract labor.
The groups also said that current laws already have provisions against labor-only contracting, which are also reinforced through Department Order 178 issued by the Department of Labor and Employment in 2017 and Executive Order 51 signed by the President last year.
A leader of the House of Representatives on Thursday called for frequent meetings separate from the legislative-executive development council to speed up the passage of the measures enunciated by Duterte in his SONA.
Deputy Speaker Luis Raymund Villafuerte said these planned regular dialogues will be held even ahead of the meeting of the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council, which might be convened next month.
Villafuerte said among the measures that the House leadership would work on getting passed this year are the remaining bills under the comprehensive tax reform program, which the President endorsed in his latest SONA.
