MANILA — The executive order (EO) seeking to scrap labor contractualization “may or may not be signed” on or before Labor Day (May 1), Malacañang said on Monday.
Presidential spokseperson Harry Roque said that the fate of the EO will still depend on the meeting between President Rodrigo R. Duterte and Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III on Monday night.
“I can confirm that there might be an EO that may or may not be signed depending on their meeting tonight,” Roque said during a Palace briefing.
Last April 16, Roque first announced that Duterte wanted the EO to end contractualization, one of his campaign promises, signed on Labor Day.
However, on April 19, he said that Duterte would no longer issue an EO, noting that Bello wanted to leave it to Congress to pass a law to end contractualization instead.
“The position of Secretary Bello now is it is better to leave the matter of endo to Congress,” Roque said in an earlier briefing.
Former Senior Deputy Executive Secretary and now Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra earlier said that an EO is meant “only to supplement” what the law provides but it cannot “add, subtract or substantially alter it”.
Guevarra said that Congress needed to step in and create a law to repeal or amend that particular provision of the Labor Code.
Labor groups, meanwhile, remain hopeful that the directive to end contractualization may soon be released.
Duterte will be in Cebu to grace the 116th Labor Day celebration at the IC3 Convention Center on Tuesday. (PNA)
