Villanueva: Ending ‘endo’ not an anti-employer move

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Joel Villanueva on Wednesday clarified that ending labor contractualization does not intend to discourage investors or close down companies.

Villanueva, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resources, said he seeks to create a balanced law to end the labor practice of “endo”, where workers have short contracts, making them ineligible to get employee benefits.

He eyes passage of the law within the year.

“Gusto po nating maging very careful dito, ayaw natin na unang una sa lahat mai-convey ‘yung maling mensahe yung maling mensahe kasi dito is that dinidiscourage natin ang investments, dinidiscourage natin ang mga maliliit na negosyante. Tayo po ay nais lang  natin na ibigay yung nararapat para sa ating mga workers,” Vilanueva said in an interview after the Senate committee hearing.

Villanueva clarified that hiring contractual workers is a globally recognized practice. He said it is not illegal as some industries and companies do need to hire people for a shorter periods of time. He gave resorts in Boracay, which have peak tourism seasons, as an example.

“Hindi po natin sinasabi na bawal yan at masama po iyan  sapagkat may mga bagay po na kailangan talagang contractual katulad po ng mga nabanggit nating kaninang examples,” the senator said.

He however said that  the Senate wants to end the "end of contract" scheme that some employers abuse.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon, on the other hand, urged the committee and the Department of Labor and Employment to come up with the “win-win” solution in resolving the problem of contractualization as it has been happening since the 1970s.

Drilon suggested offering incentives to companies that effectively reduce the number of contractual employees under their payroll as one feasible solution.

Drilon also said unemployment problem must be addressed.

 “At present, the law clearly prohibits labor-only contracting. However, in order to realistically solve this problem, we should target the root cause of the problem: insufficient job opportunities,” Drilon said.