MALACAÑANG on Monday assured the labor sectors that an executive order that would end the contractualization and “endo” employment scheme will be signed by President Rodrigo Duterte before May 1, Labor Day, to benefit both workers and employers.
Duterte was supposed to sign the EO on Monday, but the signing was postponed after his scheduled meeting with labor group leaders was canceled.
The labor groups have bewailed the delay in the signing of the labor-draft EO, saying this was another strategy of the business sectors to favor their own version of the EO.
“Will the signing push through or are we facing another postponement just because other drafts other than that of labor have been submitted by DOLE before the Office of the President for the same consideration?” Nagkaisa labor coalition Chairman Michael Mendoza said.
“By deciding to cancel and opting not to sign the labor version of the said EO, the President is actually pressing the stop button of the anti-endo momentum,” said Partido Manggagawa chairman Renato Magtubo.
He said the supposed end game for endo was getting more confused as Duterte was failing to exercise strong leadership on the issue by allowing his underlings at the Labor and Trade departments to shop for last-minute excuses to practically deny the workers’ right to exercise security of tenure under a direct-hiring employment relationship with their principal employers.
Various labor groups have reiterated their call on the President to sign the labor-drafted EO that would pave the way for the realization of his campaign promise.
“The labor-drafted EO will also send a strong signal to Congress to attune their security-of- tenure measures to the policy of direct hiring as a norm in employment relations,” a labor group said in a statement.
Malacañang spokesman Harry Roque said the President would definitely sign the EO because it was part of his election campaign to the labor sector.
“I can only surmise that the final version of the EO has not been agreed upon by labor, management and government,” Roque told reporters. “It’s a tripartite document that has to be agreed upon, so possibly, they don’t have a final version yet.
“I know that the President is rather restive about this EO. He has mentioned to me personally that this is a campaign promise that he wants to deliver to the people very soon.”
Roque said Duterte would side with the labor force because it was a promise he gave to the labor groups.
“The President wants it as soon as possible. We all know that Labor Day is May 1, so I would think that it will come out on or before May 1,” Roque said.