MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte has directed Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestro Bello III to go after “cabo” or companies engaged in labor-only contract.
Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said Duterte has ordered Bello to submit within 30 days to the Office of the President (OP) an inventory or comprehensive report of DOLE’s Department Order Numbers 174 and 183.
Roque said the comprehensive report should include list of companies suspected to be engaged in labor-only contracting that is prohibited by the Labor Code.
“We reiterate that labor-only contracting is already prohibited by the existing Labor Code and among others, one in this is of a labor-only contracting entity or a “cabo” that does not have substantial capital,” Roque said.
He added that the Labor Code particularly prohibits “cabo” or the 555 “endo” practice, where service contractors fire their workers after five months.
Roque said service contractors who have substantial capital of at least Php5 million and employ their employees working for a specific companies as regular are allowed by the Labor Code.
Duterte made the order a day after DOLE announced that the President would no longer issue an executive order prohibiting “endo” or end of contract.
The President, DOLE added, would instead certify as urgent the security of tenure bill, which is currently pending at the Senate.
Roque said prohibiting service contractors with substantial capital would require an law from Congress.
For now, Roque said, Duterte has been fulfilling his election campaign promise to eliminate “555 endo” with the issuance of new directive against labor-only contract.
“This is just a directive. So it needs to be implemented. Let’s just call it as ‘Tokhang Laban sa Cabo’,” he said.
“Tokhang” is a term popularized by the Philippine National Philippine, (PNP) through its anti-drug campaign “Oplan Tokhang”.
“There would be really Tokhang in the companies, one by one. It’s to tell them to comply, otherwise you will be closed by the President,” Roque warned. (PNA)
