Will we see the end of endo?
Today is Labor Day and our workers expect something from Pres. Rodrigo "Digong" Duterte like his campaign promise to end contractualization, a.k.a. "endo," but the last thing about endo that came out of presidential spokesman Harry Roque's mouth was when he announced that the issue to "stop endo" order is now up to Congress. Therefore we can safely say that Malacañang is passing the endo issue to Congress.
Frankly speaking, I don't blame Malacañang for having a hard time in finding an end to endo. A case in point is one of the most practiced endo is the "pakyaw" system where when one wants to fix something in his house, the owner doesn't have to look for the services of a big contractor to fix small problems, and of course these big contractors would find such small projects too small to make a profit. Therefore, the "pakyaw" system helps the small- and medium-scale economies where a great majority of Filipinos work.
No doubt, the pakyaw system is one form of endo that our country cannot do without because these involves small-time contractors who hire two or four masons or carpenters because the house owner gave him a contract to fix his house for a fixed amount and the only way he can profit from this deal is to get good construction workers who can do the job in a short time. But then, Malacañang may still have some surprises for our workers today, so we'll just have to wait until the last minute for any surprises that may still come up before the day ends.
Then there is that very important matter of government contractual workers, something that I have been writing about in the past year. During my stint as Chairman of the Cebu City Traffic Operations and Management I only had less than 10 percent regular workers under me in a force of more than 600 traffic enforcers and office workers. In my book, this is the kind of endo that Malacañang should stop because definitely the local government units are not willing to put an end to this ugly practice of hiring casual workers who really are contractual workers.
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I read in the news about the proposal by Cebu City Councilor Jerry Guardo to declare areas in downtown Cebu City as "Chinatown." Councilor Guardo proposed "The whole downtown area of Cebu City, the prime commercial district of the city, is languishing at the business cellar and needs to be afforded attention and concern by the city government as it was once the proud business center of our Tsinoy brothers and would-be future tourist destination for the city."
To further make this proposal work, Councilor Guardo proposed to create the Cebu City Chinatown Development Council (CCCDC). Tsinoy businessmen were asked whether they would like the idea of creating a Chinatown for Cebu City, and greeted it with a cold shoulder. Perhaps it is because no one has an idea of who would be the members of the CCCDC and whether or not they could become another bureaucratic layer in getting business or zoning permits for the area designated as Chinatown.
Mind you, whenever friends from abroad come to Cebu, especially those who live in New York or San Francisco, they always ask where is Cebu's Chinatown? Well, Manila always had a Chinatown, but here in Cebu, we had no need for a Chinatown simply because the majority of businessmen in Cebu are of Chinese descent. It is a fact that Filipino-Chinese businessmen literally control business and trading in Cebu since time immemorial even up to today.
Filipino-Chinese businessmen like Gokongwei who now own big business conglomerates in Manila always look back to Cebu as the roots of their business empire. Then there's the Gotianun Family who run the Filinvest Group in Manila who are proud of their Cebuano heritage. The Gaisanos are homegrown businessmen who have grown by leaps and bounds with Metro Gaisano opening their businesses in Metro Manila, Davao, Tacloban, Ormoc, and many areas in the Visayas and Mindanao. So as to the question whether or not the Cebu City government should create a Chinatown for Cebu City, at this point, I find it unnecessary.