MANILA – The Senate on Wednesday approved a measure that aims to end illegal contractualization, reform that President Rodrigo Duterte had promised when he campaigned for his post in 2016.

Senate Bill No. 1826 also known as the ENDO Bill, which guarantees security of tenure for employees by preventing labor-only contracting, was approved by the Senate on third and final reading, Sen. Joel Villanueva said in a statement.

“We longed for this day to come, especially our workers who have suffered because of the evils of endo, a practice which corrupts the dignity of labor,” said Villanueva, principal author of the bill.

“We want to give all workers peace of mind when it comes to their employment status, that no worker can be dismissed without just or authorized cause, and due process,” he added.

Senate approves the ENDO bill on third & final reading. The measure penned by Sen @senatorjoelv guarantees security of tenure & prohibits "labor-only contracting" @ABSCBNNews @ANCALERTS

— sherrie ann torres (@sherieanntorres) May 22, 2019

Villanueva, who chairs the Senate Committee on Labor, Employment and Human Resource Development, said concerns of all stakeholders were taken into consideration to come up with a measure “that protects the interests of all parties concerned.”

Under the measure, labor-only contracting occurs when:

• The job contractor merely supplies, recruits and places 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; and
• The contractee has direct control and supervision of the workers supplied by the contractor.

The bill would classify workers into 4 types namely: regular, probationary, project and seasonal. It would require contractors to obtain a license from the Department of Labor and Employment to engage on job contracting.

Licensing would allow DOLE to “scrutinize” the company’s capacity to adhere to existing labor laws and their ability to provide for their employees, Villanueva said.

The ENDO bill also seeks to establish a mechanism that empowers industry tripartite councils to determine roles that can be outsourced.

Villanueva said he remains “optimistic” that there would be enough time for the bicameral conference committee to tackle the measure before the 17th Congress closes in June 30.

The President had earlier certified the bill as urgent.

In his 2018 State of the Nation address, Duterte urged lawmakers to end labor-only contracting “once and for all.”

• 'Once and for all,' end contractualization: Duterte tells Congress

-- with a report from Sherrie Ann Torres, ABS-CBN News