MANILA, Philippines – The bill seeking to amend the existing Labor Code and stop abusive forms of contractualization, also known as endo, is now ready for signing by President Rodrigo Duterte.

This comes after the House of Representatives on Tuesday, May 29, agreed to adopt the provisions of Senate Bill (SB) 1826 or the “Act Strengthening Workers’ Right to Security of Tenure,” which senators approved on 3rd and final reading on May 22.

Assistant Majority Leader Jericho Nograles moved for the House to adopt SB 1826 during the session on Tuesday, the same day senators ratified the bill.

“The committee, through its chairperson, after having reviewed the provisions of both bills, informed us that they are in concurrence with the provisions of the Senate bill. Madam Speaker, in view therefore and in accordance with our rules, I move that we adopt Senate Bill Numer 1826 as an amendment to House Bill (HB) Number 6908,” said Nograles. 

Deputy Speaker Sharon Garin accepted the motion after no other lawmaker objected it. 

The House earlier approved its own version of the measure – HB 6908 – in January 2018. With the House adopting the Senate version on Tuesday, there is no need for the bill to go through the bicameral conference committee. 

The endo bill will instead be transmitted directly to Malacañang so Duterte could sign it into law.

The measure reiterates the ban on labor-only contracting and clarifies uncertainties in existing laws that have allowed employers to circumvent the prohibition.

Under the bill, labor-only contracting exists when:

• The job contractor merely supplies, recruits, and supplies workers to a contractee.
• The workers supplied to a contractee perform tasks/activities that are listed by the industry to be directly related to the core business of the contractee.
• The contractee has direct control and supervision of the workers supplied by the contractor.

The bill also classifies workers under 4 employment types:

• regular
• probationary
• project
• seasonal 

Project and seasonal workers have the same rights as regular employees. These benefits include the payment of minimum wage and social protection benefits.

Ending labor contractualization has been a campaign promise of Duterte, who had certified the endo bill as urgent in September 2018. (READ: (READ: TIMELINE: Duterte’s promise to abolish endo) 

Duterte previously signed an executive order on contractualization, though labor groups and progressive lawmakers  alike slammed it as “having no effect” in effectively abolishing endo in the country. – with reports from Camille Elemia/Rappler.com