End of endo to worsen unemploymentPalscon

businessmirror.com.ph/end-of-endo-to-worsen-unemployment-palscon/

04/05/2016

RHODA CALIWARA (left), president of the Philippine Association of Legitimate Service Contractors
Inc., joins Edgardo Lacson, president of the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (Ecop); and
George Barcelon, president of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in discussing the
real issues behind contractualization and casualization at the Ecop membership meeting on
Wednesday.
The move to outlaw job contractualization may increase the ranks of the unemployed, and put the Philippines
at a big disadvantage with its Asean peers, Philippine Association of Legitimate Service Contractors Inc.
(Palscon) President Rhoda Caliwara warned on Wednesday.
At the homestretch of the May 9 election campaign, which saw each of the four presidential candidates issuing a
pledge to end job contractualization, Caliwara said an end for the so-called endo, or end of contract, for workers
within a period of less than six months, may throw out almost a million Filipinos out of job.
Lawmakers, however, share a different perspective. At the House of Representatives, congressmen also on
Wednesday sought for the prioritization of bills that will prohibit labor contractualization when session
resumes on May 23.
Party-list Rep. Emmeline Aglipay-Villar of the Democratic Independent Workers Association (Diwa) said the
government should put an end to the rampant practice of labor contractualization, deriding endo practice as a
work arrangement wherein workers are hired for no longer than six months, either through fixed-term contracts
with a six-month period or they are fired during their probationary period before regularization.
This, then, denies workers of their right to security of tenure, but also prevents them from receiving Social
Security System [SSS], Philippine Health Insurance Corp. [PhilHealth], Home Development Mutual Fund [PagIBIG] and other basic benefits that regular workers are entitled to, said Aglipay-Villar, one of the authors of a
measure strengthening the job tenure of employees.
She added that several employers get away with contractualization because of the loopholes of the Labor Code
of the Philippines.

Congress should protect the rights of Filipino workers to security of tenure. There are pending

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bills aim to fix the loopholes and gray areas in the Labor Code that have allowed
contractualization to proliferate, she added. tweet

Aglipay-Villar said, Contractualization makes a mockery out of the constitutionally enshrined right to security of
tenure. In the system of endo, workers who are doing work that is essential to the core business of the employer,
for example, sales persons in the retail industry do work that is essential to the business of selling, so they
should be regularized and should receive the benefits they deserve.
Defending Palscons position, Caliwara also pointed out that contrary to common perception, legitimate service
contractors do not deprive workers of their government-mandated benefits.
She said members of Palscon provide benefits, such as the mandated 13th-month pay, and comply with
contributions to the SSS, PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG.
We also follow the required minimum wage set by the National Wages and Productivity Council of the DOLE
[Department of Labor and Employment], and our workers get necessary leaves and rest days as mandated by
the Philippine Labor Code, Caliwara added.
Citing data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), she said contractual work employed around 600,000
workers in 2014. This figure went up to 850,000 in 2015.
If seasonality, probationary, casual and apprenticeship employment are to be included this year, the number of
workers that will benefit from contractualization is projected to hit more than 1 million workers, Caliwara said.
The industry leader asserted that contractualization is a worldwide trend and a generally acceptable labor
practice.

These trends are increasing due to the fast-paced business trends being influenced by mobility
through technology. Removing or banning contractualization would mean taking away productive
jobs from 1 million Filipinos and would set the economy back, she said. tweet

Former Palscon President Butch Guerrero, for his part, stressed that prohibiting contractualization would
diminish the countrys competitiveness in the global arena.
Removing contractualization would put the Philippines at a disadvantage vis--vis its Asean neighbors in this
age of globalization and would mean capital flight of the country to our neighbors, such as Thailand and
Vietnam, Guerrero said.
Caliwara also addressed the misconception surrounding contractualization.
She said endo, or the 5-5-5 systemwhere workers are forced to sign short, five-month employment contracts
and, thus, become unqualified to receive the benefits due themhas already been outlawed since 2011 through
Department Order 18-A issued by the DOLE.
The endo, or 5-5-5 system, is no longer being practiced by legitimate service contractors. Admittedly, there are
still service contractors which, I suppose, are illegitimately doing business, still practicing the 5-5-5, she said.
Caliwara also urged the presidentiables to study the issue first before they make their final pronouncements to
ban this employment practice.
Employees Confederation of the Philippines President Edgardo Lacson said there is a need to remove the
stigma on contractualization. We as employers need to inform our leaders on the implications of their immediate
response to abolish contractualization, he said.

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