What’s next for anti-endo bill after Duterte’s veto?

by Gaea Katreena Cabico (Philstar.com), Jul 26, 2019

MANILA, Philippines — After President Rodrigo Duterte rejected a proposed legislation seeking to end the practice of labor-only contracting, some lawmakers and labor groups vowed they would again push for the approval of a Security of Tenure Bill in the 18th Congress.

But others see this move would end up as a futile attempt without the support of the current administration—whose leader had boldly promised to end short-term hiring once he assumes the presidency.

Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III said Congress—which he described as “dynamic”—can re-file for the anti-endo bill to be amended and re-pass it. This means the bill will go back to square one.

Sen. Joel Villanueva, the principal author of the bill, vowed to continue pushing for the bill, which has been languishing in the legislative mill for over two decades.

“Despite everything, we will continue to push for this proposed measure until all forms of endo are stopped,” Villanueva said in Filipino.

Senators actually have another choice aside from refiling the bill. Under the Constitution, a presidential veto will return the bill where it originated within 30 days—in this case, the Senate.

The upper chamber can reconsider the bill by a vote of two-thirds of its member. After the reconsideration, it shall be sent to the lower chamber, which can enact it into law if approved by two-thirds of its members.

Labor group Federation of Free Workers also committed to continue lobbying a bill that would address the abusive practice of contractualization, which is affecting millions of Filipino workers.

‘Futile’ attempt

While some quarters are refusing to give up, others are seeing the attempts to push the bill again would end up “futile.”

“With the veto message, it seems like the policy direction has been set. Any attempt to refile the bill could be an exercise in futility without the administration’s support,” Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said.

Duterte vetoed the Security of Tenure bill a day before it lapses into law. In explaining his veto, the president said the proposed measure “unduly broadens the scope and definition of prohibited labor-only contracting.”

Another reason he gave is that businesses should be allowed to determine whether they should outsource certain activities or not.

The move of the president did not surprise some labor groups. Nevertheless, they are outraged by government’s “extreme display of insensitivity and insincerity” to the workers.

“We have no hope that President Duterte will put into law a Security of Tenure bill that will genuine end contractualization in the country… We do not expect President Duterte to drop his position to veto the bill or take a similar action in the coming days,” Kilusang Mayo Uno said.

It should be noted that Duterte even certified the necessity of the immediate passing of the bill in September last year only to slash the hope of Filipino workers by vetoing it months later.

The chief executive made no mention of the anti-endo bill during his fourth State of the Nation Address Monday. In a post-SONA interview, Duterte did not make a categorical answer on whether he would sign the bill or not, saying he was still “studying the bill.”

Prior to Duterte’s veto, chief economic planner Ernesto Pernia said Wednesday the proposal needs some tweaking to ensure that it would benefit both the business and labor sectors.

Ending contractualization was among the campaign promises of Duterte. In 2018, he signed an executive order supposedly ending endo but labor groups called it “useless” as it failed to end the abusive practice.

Now that Duterte delivered a major blow to workers with his veto of the anti-endo bill, workers “can only rely on our unity and collective action for genuine regularization of contractual workers to be realized,” KMU said.