News Release

Department of labor and Employment

July 29, 2019

DOLE to end illegal work schemes despite vetoed SOT bill

The labor department remains persistent in ensuring the security of tenure of Filipino workers and in
ending all illegal employment schemes, following the decision of President Rodrigo Duterte to veto the
Security of Tenure (SOT) bill.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III in a press briefing on Monday said DOLE will review the vetoed bill and
will come up with its own ‘balanced’ version that will serve its substantive purpose of providing security of
tenure to workers without hurting the viability of businesses and investments in the country.

“We will come up with a clearer and more focused provision of providing the security of tenure of our
workers that will also ensure a healthy industrial balance between workers and employers. We will remain
consistent to end all abusive employment practices as directed by the President,” Bello said.

The labor chief also said that DOLE will study the ambiguities on the definition of the labor-only
contracting and the extent of the management’s prerogative in defining certain activities to be outsourced,
being the major reason of the President in vetoing the SOT bill.

“Defining certain services to be outsourced must be determined by a tripartite body wherein both labor
and management are well represented along with the government. We will thoroughly study it and submit
our recommendations to the President,” Bello said.

The labor chief meanwhile assured the workers that the vetoed SOT bill is not the end of the promise of
the President in ending all abusive employment arrangements among Filipino workers but a reason for
the labor department to remain committed in abolishing unlawful contracting arrangements through
intensified labor inspections nationwide.

“The President’s veto of the SOT bill is not the end of the workers cause in ending unfair practices of
contractualization, such as labor-only contracting and end-of-contract schemes. He has always been
committed in protecting our workers’ right to security of tenure through our intensified labor inspections
and assessment,” Bello said.

As of June 2019, the labor department’s ‘endo’ campaign netted 471,394 regularized workers of which
340,723 workers were voluntarily regularized by their own employers, while the 130,671 secured their
employment through labor inspections and assessment.

Also, labor inspections are on-going to ensure the compliance of private companies to the general labor
rules and standards. ###AbegailDeVega