Senator Joel Villanueva on Monday refiled the Security of Tenure bill that was vetoed by President Rodrigo Duterte.
With minor changes, Villanueva said his bill was the “same measure that was certified as priority and urgent by the President himself.”
He said he filed the exact copy of the original proposal to find out from the Executive branch what particular provisions are supposedly problematic.
A number of senators, including Villanueva, expressed disappointment at the President’s veto of the bill that seeks to prohibit abusive practices in the hiring of contractual workers.
“Unfortunately, profit wins again with the veto of the SOT bill,” said Villanueva, who chaired the Senate labor committee.
President Duterte vetoed the bill after the National Economic and Development Authority suggested that the bill needed “tweaking”—and after major business groups urged the President to reject the measure.
“I sympathize with [Senator] Joel [Villanueva] who had worked hard on this bill. This was not an easy bill to write. Joel made sure that it was a balanced one. It was a tightrope act under stormy conditions,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto, who suggested that the Executive branch should write its own version and send it to Congress with an attached presidential certification as to its urgency.
“If it has changed its mind, then the version it now wants must be in black and white, so nothing will be lost in translation. This is needed because the veto message did not cite the specific provisions that triggered the veto. Let the burden of proposition fall on them this time. But this will be for the information of Congress only, and should not mean that it must be the one passed en toto,” he said.
The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines commended Villanueva for refiling the same SOT bill at the Senate.
The group said in a statement that they will also refile the same SOT bill in the House of Representatives through TUCP Party-List Rep. Raymond Mendoza next week.
“If we read and examine the bill carefully, the SOT bill that President Duterte already vetoed, the proposed measure already contains the provisions that he wanted to have,” TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said.
The SOT bill, once enforced, gives management the prerogative to hire contractual and outsource seasonal workers, Tanjusay said.
The group also appealed to President Duterte to “ignore the misinformation” and “scaremongering” from some of his economic managers and foreign and local business groups.
“We urged the President to also listen to workers, Tanjusay said.
Senator Risa Hontiveros said Duterte’s decision to veto the security of tenure bill is not surprising, describing his commitment to end labor contractualization as “wimpish and wishy-washy.”
On Sunday, the President defended his veto.
“You do not make it hard for the capitalist also to move,” Duterte said.
“The security of tenure should also provide the security of the capital. It should not be that way because it’s difficult to give [jobs]. This is a democracy. It should be fair,” he added.
Duterte vetoed the bill last week, citing the need to strike a balance between the interests of businesses and workers.
In his letter addressed to the Congress, he also said that many businesses would cease operations if there is no “definite classification” of the companies that are covered by the law.
If the enrolled bill was passed into a law, many Filipinos will lose their jobs, he said.
Duterte on Sunday said he is thinking of resubmitting the bill to Congress to introduce provisions that would balance the interests of stakeholders.
The Chief Executive said lawmakers should have followed what was agreed upon regarding the bill, which he had certified as urgent in September 2018.
The labor sector and some lawmakers expressed disappointment on Duterte’s move, accusing him of betraying the workers.
Malacañang previously said the security of tenure bill which seeks to protect workers from unfair labor practices will be passed within the term of President Duterte.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the definition of labor-only contracting and concerns about outsourcing were the major considerations behind the President’s veto of the bill.
“I think the focus of the President was on the definition of labor-only contracting,” Bello said in a press conference Monday.
The proposed bill prohibits labor-only contracting, or when the job contractor—whether licensed or not—merely recruits and supplies workers to an employer, but has no substantial capital or investment in tools, equipment, machineries, and work premises.
The President was also concerned about the allowable types of outsourcing, Bello said.
“The way I see it, it is important for security of tenure to know what service can be outsourced,” he said in Filipino. “Under the bill, you cannot outsource a service if it is directly related to the principal business of the employer.”
Retail companies, for example, are not allowed to outsource sales ladies since they are directly involved in sales, the Cabinet official noted.
Under the bill, a tripartite body will decide whether or not a service is directly related to the principal business—a decision that some believe belongs only to employers.
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