Security of Tenure bill recognizes seasonal employment – DOLE

By Leslie Ann Aquino, Manila Bulletin, May 27, 2019

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the Security of Tenure (SOT) bill that was passed recently by the Senate will enhance the enjoyment of the work­ers’ constitutional rights to job security, and they are grateful to the senators for taking one giant step to end ‘Endo’ and guarantee the workers’ statutory right to security of tenure.

The SOT is one of DOLE’s priority legislative measures certified as urgent by the President.

It aims to amend the Labor Code on the prohibition of labor-only contracting and other provisions that allow contracting arrangements.

Senate Bill No. 1826 authored and sponsored by Senator Joel Villan­ueva “upholds the Constitutionally-guaranteed right to security of tenure, reiterates the prohibition on labor-only contracting, and clarifies ambi­guities in existing laws that have allowed employers to tiptoe around the ban.”

But Labor Assistant Secretary Benjo Benavidez said the SOT bill won’t prohibit all forms of contractu­alization or job contracting because, in the proposed law, project employ­ment, probationary employment, and seasonal employment remains recognized.

“There is seasonal employment because production is not high all year long because tourists are not at peak all year long. This is the flexibility that will be provided to businesses,” he said in a Manila forum Sunday.

Benavidez added that the DOLE will consult with different sectors to determine core and non-core jobs.

“We will consult with different sectors. Manufacturing, hotel, retail. We want to know which are core jobs that cannot be contracted and which are non-core jobs that can be contracted. These will come out in the rules and regulations,” Benavidez said.