Unresolved labor issue

To be fair, Rodrigo Duterte was not the only presidential candidate in 2016 who promised to end labor contractualization or “endo” (end of contract), also called “5-5-5” for the practice by employers of ending a worker’s’ contract after five months to evade regularization and the paying of worker’s benefits. All presidential bets did. It’s just that then candidate Duterte’s boast was more forceful.

For example, Liberal Party standard bearer Manuel “Mar” Roxas vowed to end job contractualization in three to six months. He said he would have Congress pass a new law that would address the “loopholes” in existing labor laws. Duterte said he would do it in a week.

“I will talk to the House Speaker and the Senate President... I will talk to the majority: You need to pass this bill immediately. I need it in the first week of my administration,” he said in the final presidential debate hosted by the Commission on Elections, Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas, ABS-CBN and Manilla Bulletin. He won the presidency days later.

Like his promise to end the illegal drug trade in three to six months, his promise to end “endo” in one week is far from being realized even as Duterte is about to complete the second year of his term. He started off promising to issue an executive order to end “endo,” then recently announced his intention to turn over the task to Congress.

The Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) through Secretary Silvestre Bello III did try to save face by coming up with an order banning “endo.” Labor groups were dissatisfied, claiming the order actually favored employers as it fell short of the call for a total ban on contractualization. Yesterday, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. said that the President may yet sign the EO ending “endo.”

Roque’s gambit is obviously meant to ease the uneasiness of workers over the President’s failure to make good his campaign promise. Today is Labor Day, after all. Roque, though, is sounding more and more like the boy who cried “Wolf!” a number of times already, making a promise on top of a previous promise.