Labor chief says TV networks, hospitals on next ‘endo’ list

THE DEPARTMENT of Labor and Employment (DoLE) plans to submit by next month a new list of companies engaging in illegal contractualization, including television “networks” and “hospitals.”

Labor Secretary Mr. Silvestre H. Bello III said, “By July, we will come up with another list of those not complying.”

“By the middle of July,” he specified. “We might come out with another Top 20.”

For the next list, Mr. Bello said “We will be going against the (television) networks.” “Pati ospitals (Even hospitals),” he added. Regarding the first list disclosed some two months earlier, he said, “Partial lang yan (That’s just partial) — 900,000 establishments yan at ilan lang aming

mga labor law compliance officers (and how many labor law compliance officers do we have)? Medyo

may kahirapan but we are doing our very best (We’re having difficulty but we are doing our very best).”

DoLE has inspected 99,526 companies prior to the release of the first list of companies engaged in laboronly contracting.

When asked about the TV networks, Mr. Bello said, “Kasi may statement si President eh (Because the President, [Rodrigo R. Duterte], had an earlier statement). About ABS-CBN di ba (isn’t it)?”

Asked for an update on the initial list, Mr. Bello said Dole Philippines will be regularizing “7,000” of their workers.

“We are going to Polomolok in South Cotobato for the signing (of a) Memorandum of Agreement for the regularization plan of Dole Philippines,” he said of the company, which placed second in the first list, with a total of 10,521 workers affected. — G.M. Cortez