Executive fiats

If certified though as urgent administration bills by President Duterte, the “en-do” and the BBL have fighting chances to get approval by Congress.

Two very important May 2016 presidential campaign promises made by former Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte are on the verge of being fulfilled. That is barring any hitches – legal or constitutional – to derail their being executed as promised by President Duterte.

Almost two years now since they were committed in the altars of the presidential bids, then Mayor Duterte vowed to put an end to the so-called “en-do” practices of many big business establishments, and, to push the passage into law of the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

“En-do” stands for “end of contracts” that many minimum wage workers enter into with companies trying to avoid extra labor costs related to paying monthly employers’ contributions to Social Security System (SSS), PhilHealth, and other worker-related benefits.

Last Monday, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III announced President Duterte is expected to sign within the next two weeks an Executive Order (EO) prohibiting this long-standing business practice by many private companies of contractualization of their workers. Bello disclosed that the President wanted to consult first with all stakeholders on how best to meet the “en-do” workers’ plight without compromising their continued employment if business operations of companies will be seriously affected.

In the meantime, the DOLE chief claimed over 100,000 workers have been regularized nationwide since the government launched a campaign against blatant violations of contractualization practices.

According to the DOLE Secretary, the Office of the Executive Secretary told him to wait for the planned meeting first of President Duterte with various organized labor groups to discuss the proposed EO. Bello, himself a lawyer, conceded, however, that a mere EO for total ban on “en-do” could not amend existing provisions of the Labor Code of the Philippines.

Senior deputy executive secretary Menardo Guevarra confirmed some of the workers’ demands for total ban on “en-do” is simply impossible without an enabling law passed and approved by Congress. “An executive order is meant only to supplement or to give implementing details of what the law provides. But it cannot add or subtract or substantially alter what the law provides. That’s really more for Congress to do,” Guevarra explained.

As the nominal chieftain of the PDP-Laban, now ruling the majority coalition in both chambers of the 17th Congress, it should not be difficult for President Duterte to get the “en-do” bills passed into law.

However, a check I made in the Senate and at the Lower House showed the “en-do” bills are not moving at all in the legislative mills of both chambers. Several “en-do” bills authored and filed by left-leaning members of the so-called “Makabayan” bloc at the House of Representatives remain at the House committee on labor chaired by Randolph Ting (Isabela, PDP-Laban).

At least, the counterpart “en-do” bills at the Senate committee on labor and employment were being consolidated before they adjourned for their six-week Lenten recess. Chaired by Sen. Joel Villanueva, the Senate Committee Report on “en-do” bills is being circulated for review among the Senator-members of the committee and its authors. Villanueva, who run and won in the 2016 elections under the Liberal Party-led Senate ticket, belongs to the majority coalition that installed PDP-Laban president Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III as Senate president.

Sen. Grace Poe who run but lost to Mayor Duterte during the 2016 presidential race, is one of the co-authors of the “en-do” bill, along with Senators Pimentel, Villanueva and Loren Legarda.

Latest official statements from various organized labor groups though indicate they no longer see the possibility of a total ban against all forms of contractualization. Many of them have conceded that a total ban on “en-do” is indeed impractical since the national government is the single biggest employer of “en-do” workers. The labor leaders expect much less from Congress to pass “en-do” bills for obvious reasons.

The two chambers of Congress will resume their second regular session on May 14. They will have less than a month to wind down before the sine die adjournment on June 1. More or less, it would be fair to predict the “en-do” bills won’t be taken up for the remaining session days.

At least, the BBL is moving by leaps and bounds at the Senate being pushed by Sen. Miguel “Migz” Zubiri as chairman of the Senate sub-committee on local government. Before the Lenten break, the Senators started the floor deliberations of the BBL. Zubiri, who hails from Bukidnon, is confident to meet their timeline target to approve the Senate BBL before they adjourn sine die in June.

On the other hand, the Lower House version of the BBL is still pending at the House committee on local governments chaired by Rep. Pedro Acharon (PDP-Laban, South Cotabato). A number of Mindanao House members are reportedly against certain provisions of the BBL that would effectively marginalize their political clouts.

Thus, President Duterte virtually threatened those blocking the BBL he may resort to using his powers under the country’s 1987 Constitution to turn into reality his promise to his Muslim brothers. Speaking extemporaneously in Sultan Kudarat last Monday, the Chief Executive admitted he is “racing against time” to have the proposed BBL hurdle Congress.

A self-confessed Maranao by his maternal bloodline, President Duterte insisted for BBL to be enacted within this year. If not, President Duterte vowed to issue an EO to implement it.

If certified though as urgent administration bills by President Duterte, the “en-do” and BBL have fighting chances to get approval by Congress.

The President can, however, hold sway when he delivers his state of the nation address (SONA) on July 22 at the joint sessions of the Senate and the House to start their third and last regular sessions. For the meantime, executive fiats will suffice to meet half-way compliance to these two major presidential campaign promises.