(Eagle News)—President Rodrigo Duterte has certified the Senate’s anti-contractualization bill as urgent.
The certification of Senate Bill No. 1826 was contained in a letter the President wrote to Senate President Tito Sotto dated September 21.
“We laud the move of the President certifying our Security of Tenure Bill as a priority measure. It is important that we pass this into law to finally put an end to work schemes like ‘endo’ and labor-only contracting,” Senator Joel Villanueva, principal author and sponsor of the measure.
Villanueva said contractualization affects more than 1.9 million workers in the private sector.
“Overall, about three out of 10 Filipino workers are not regular and one out of two non-regular workers are contractual,” he said.
Once passed into law, Villanueva said the measure “would remove the ambiguities in the Labor Code, which is the source of circumventions.”
He said it will also: a) prohibit labor-only contracting, and provide penalties for violation (b) limit job contracting to licensed and specialized services, (c) classify workers into regular and probationary employees–and treat project and seasonal employees as regular employees, (d) provide security of tenure, (e) clarify standards on probationary employment, and (f) provide “Transition Support Program” for employees while they are not at work or transitioning in between jobs.
“Senate Bill 1826 is clear enough to meet the interests of the labor sector and the interests of the business sector,” Villanueva said.