EO 51 ‘a good start’ but Congress can do more
Senate has yet to act on House Bill 6908, whose co-authors include Deputy Speaker Gwen Garcia and Rep. Raul del Mar of Cebu; it pushes for regular employees’ rights on project, seasonal workers; in the meantime, leaders of 3 Cebu business groups welcomed EO 51, which President Duterte signed last Tuesday
Apart from the new executive order against “endo,” a proposed law spells out benefits and protections for contractual workers, an official said.
Besides, Undersecretary Joel Maglunsod said that Executive Order 51, which President Rodrigo Duterte signed in Cebu last Labor Day, strengthens the Department of Labor and Employment’s (DOLE) power to enforce Department Order 174.
Maglunsod said that 159,474 contractual workers nationwide have attained regular employment under Department Order 174 as of April 2018. DOLE issued the order in March 2017.
He also said that DOLE intends to submit the complete list of companies that violated labor laws to the President on May 10.
As to President Duterte’s appeal to Congress to update the Labor Code, Maglunsod pointed out that the Lower House passed House Bill 6908, a combination of more than 30 bills filed to amend the Code.
It’s now awaiting action by the Senate.
Two Cebuanos are among 126 co-authors of House Bill 6908, according to a committee reported approved last December 2017. They are Deputy Speaker Gwen Garcia (Cebu Province, third district) and Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north).
‘More acceptable’
Among other provisions, HB 6908 provides that all “relievers, project, and seasonal employees” should enjoy the same rights of regular employees.
Maglunsod said there is no such thing as total prohibition of contractual labor, but it can be regulated more strictly.
“From the point of view of DOLE, this harmonized version of House Bill 6908 is more acceptable to all sectors,” Maglunsod said.
While leaders of the business community in Cebu welcomed EO 51, officials of labor groups, however, were not impressed with it.
Nagkaisa Labor Coalition spokesman Dennis Derige yesterday said that Executive Order 51 only prohibits illegal contracting or subcontracting practices that are already defined and prohibited under Article 106 of the Labor Code and Department Order 174.
“In short, EO 51 is DO 174 with the President’s signature,” Derige said. He pointed out that Article 106 of the Labor Code prohibits labor-only contracting, while DO 174 regulates the cabo system, inhouse agencies, and the like.
Nagkaisa is composed of 22 labor centers and federations, including the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines and Sen- tro ng mga Nagkaisa at Progresibong Manggagawa (Sentro).
Sentro chairperson Greg Janginon said that for two years, Duterte has continued “to demonstrate his inability to deliver the promises of change and progress he told to the Filipino people during the campaign period.”
He promised
“Worse, he even reneged on his promise to end contractualization. After three dialogues and five revisions of the draft EO that he himself requested, the EO is only a reiteration of Article 106 of the Local Code and DO 174,” Janginon said.
But DOLE’s Maglunsod, a former Anakpawis party-List congressman, said that DO 174 was issued to prevent the abuse of previous orders, like DO 18-A.
“We abolished DO 18-A and we issued DO 174 to regulate contractualization because work directly related to the business operation should not be contracted out.
He said that DO 174 was a guide to inspect business firms and ensure that workers who should be regular employees were granted that status.