The Department of Labor and Employment on Thursday said it had submitted a new draft of a bill seeking to end illegal labor contractualization to Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea.
Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said that stakeholders, workers, labor groups and employers were consulted in drafting the new version of the SOT bill.
President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier tasked Bello to revisit and craft a clearer version of the Security of Tenure (SOT) he vetoed in July 2019.
Under the new bill, hiring seasonal and project-based employees are legal under the “legitimate job contracting scheme,” Bello said.
Bello said the President instructed him to coordinate with Secretary Medialdea, saying “that’s why when we finished the draft, I submitted it. It’s already in the hands of Secretary Medialdea.”
He said the new version of SOT might be submitted to Congress once session resumes.
Bello said it is up to the Palace if it will adopt it, or make some modification of the proposed SOT.
Ending Endo is a campaign promise that helped President Duterte secure popularity and votes in 2016.
Endo is end of contract or the practice in which employers scrimp on wages and benefits by shuffling workers with work contracts for less than six months.
