MANILA – President Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday said that there were not enough safeguards for the business sector in the Security of Tenure bill, which prompted him to veto the measure.
“‘Yung sa security of tenure, eh dapat sinunod nila ‘yung usapan – ‘yung do not make it hard for the capitalists also to move,” he said in a briefing in Batanes.
Just last Friday, presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo confirmed that Duterte vetoed the Security of Tenure bill.
The proposed measure seeks to eliminate the subcontracting of labor and would limit job contracting to licensed and specialized services.
It would also classify workers into regular and probationary employees, treating project and seasonal employees as regular employees.
The President’s decision to veto the bill came after the National Economic and Development Authority said some of the provisions still needed some “quick adjustments.”
According to Duterte, the measure should also have safeguards for business in case of poor performances from the employees.
“Alam mo kasi, ganito ‘yan. Kung kukunin ko ‘yan, malakas ‘yung labor force doon, so pasok sila nang pasok. Walang problema ‘yan, Filipino eh,” he said.
“But the fact is kung itong taong ito is indolent, tamad, hindi marunong, at tsaka meron talagang walang IQ, then you are…with one or two employees, kung tanggalin mo, you will now go to the arbitral,” added Duterte.
According to Duterte, this is one of the contentions in the proposed measure.
“They will be facing cases. Instead of helping their fellowmen, siya ang magkaproblema and this happened many times,” he said.
“Hindi maganda. The Security of Tenure should also provide the security of capital,” elaborated Duterte.
For its part, the Employers’ Confederation of the Philippines cheered Duterte’s veto of the bill.
Meanwhile, Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the Senate will again push for the measure in the 18th Congress.
“They may resubmit it any way, but they may just introduce something that will level off,” said Duterte. (GMA News)
