Duterte: Compromise on ‘endo’ needed
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte, who promised to end labor contractualization or “endo” during his 2016 presidential campaign, announced on Monday, Feb. 26, that he may not be able to give what labor groups want, stressing that a compromise is needed. “I don’t think that I can really give them all because we cannot force the capitalists [to absorb their workers]. Maybe [their employers] don’t have money, or they don’t like them, or they are lazy,” Mr. Duterte said during the inauguration of the ARMSCOR Shooting Center, Inc. (ASCI) in Davao City.
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte, who promised to end labor contractualization or “endo” during his 2016 presidential campaign, announced on Monday, Feb. 26, that he may not be able to give what labor groups want, stressing that a compromise is needed.
“I don’t think that I can really give them all because we cannot force the capitalists [to absorb their workers]. Maybe [their employers] don’t have money, or they don’t like them, or they are lazy,” Mr. Duterte said during the inauguration of the ARMSCOR Shooting Center, Inc. (ASCI) in Davao City.
“Don’t make it hard for them to run the business the way they like it because that’s their money. So something of a compromise must be...maybe acceptable to everybody,” he added.
Mr. Duterte pointed out that only a few businesses in the country can absorb workers, noting as well the “sheer number of people who need jobs.”
“So they [the employers] want some radical changes,” he said.
Mr. Duterte also cited other countries “like Hong Kong and the United States, (where, if) you work for a certain guy and if he does not like the quality that you produce, you get out, you get paid, separated and that’s it. (That’s how they are).”
Earlier this month, Mr. Duterte asked for more time to study a new proposed executive order (EO) on contractualization drafted by labor groups.
Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III had also announced that the President will be signing the said EO “by March.”
In a phone interview, Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) vice-president Angelita D. Senorin said: “That’s from his [the President’s] campaign. He said he would put an end to ‘endo.’ We don’t agree with the compromise, because the security of tenure of our employees should never be compromised.”
“Some provisions in the draft EO that (were) submitted to the President earlier this month “were changed,” she added. draft EO,
and then finalize during sa meeting sa Malacañang with Secretaries, points (When the EO was being drafted, there were already some provisions already agreed on, and when it was finalized during the meeting at Malacañang with the Cabinet Secretaries, some points were changed.)
Asked to specify which provisions were changed, Mr. Senorin cited Article 290 of the said draft EO.
( They changed the provision) under article 290, saying the Secretary of Labor, in consultation with the National Tripartite Industry Peace Council ( TIPC), shall determine by appropriate regulation activities which may be contracted out.”