Sotto: End to endo promised in 2016 but Duterte vetoed bill

ARGAO, Cebu—The contractualization of labor or "endo" continues in the country because President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed the bill which Congress passed to end the practice, Senate President Tito Sotto said on Wednesday. 

Sotto made the remark during a town hall meeting in Argao, Cebu after an attendee told Sotto and his running-mate, presidential candidate Panfilo Lacson, that her job as a barangay health worker was not secure.

Sotto said he and Lacson already filed the Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers bill.

Apart from this, he said the Senate also included a provision under the Bayanihan Laws which provided hazard pay to BHWs.

Sotto then mentioned the Security of Tenure Bill which Congress passed but which Duterte vetoed.

"'Yun pong isang pangako nung nakaraang eleksyon, noong 2016, 'di ba may pinangako sa inyo 'yun daw endo. 'Di ba pinangako 'yan e, yung contractualization, 'yung endo, aalisin na raw, di ba?" Sotto said.

"Anong ginawa ng Senado? Pinasa namin. Pinasa namin yang contractualization si Senator Joel Villanueva ang sponsor namin," he added.

(One of the promises in 2016 is ending contractualization, right? What did the Senate do? We passed it. It was Senator Joel Villanueva who sponsored it.)

"Pinasa namin ano ang nangyari? Vineto ng presidente. Ano yung vineto? Ayaw pirmahan. Binalik sa amin. Oh alam niyo na. Di ba?" Duterte said.

(But what happened? It was vetoed by the president. What is a veto? He didn't want to sign it into law. It was sent back to us. Now you know.)

Duterte vetoed the measure in 2019.

The proposed measure was meant to eliminate subcontracting of labor and limit job contracting to licensed and specialized services.

It aims to classify workers into regular and probationary employees and treat project and seasonal employees as regular employees.

Several business groups had urged Duterte to veto the bill, claiming that signing it into law could lead to job losses and affect the economy.

Ending unjust contractualization was a campaign promise of Duterte when he ran for the presidency in 2016.

In February, Lacson vowed to support the passage of the Security of Tenure Bill which seeks to end the practice of contractualization in the country's labor sector.

He made the remark after Villanueva, who is running for reelection said he would refile the anti-endo bill should he win in 2022.

The Lacson and Sotto tandem visited the vote-rich province Cebu today for a town hall meeting in Argao.

The tandem is set to hold another campaign activity tomorrow. —NB, GMA News