Koko hails Du30 EO on endo, vows to push for law

Senate President Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III on Tuesday welcomed the Executive Order (EO) signed by President Rodrigo Duterte which prohibits "illegal contracting or subcontracting or undertaking to circumvent the workers' right to security of tenure."

Ending contractualization, or the practice of hiring workers for only up to five months to evade laws on regularization, is one of the key promises of the Duterte campaign in 2016.

"I support the end of contractualization and approve of the bold move of President Duterte signing an EO to end it. For my part, I will make sure that a law on the matter will be passed as soon as possible to make the gains of workers permanent", said Pimentel.

The Senate President said that while the executive order would tremendously help workers suffering under the existence of endo, it can be easily overturned by another President.

Pimentel said, "A law will make it more difficult to reverse what has been done by the EO."

The Senate President is also the National President of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino - Lakas ng Bayan, or PDP Laban, the party of President Duterte.

Pimentel promised that the law on endo will have priority once Congress resumes its session on May 15, 2018.

The Senate President said, "Ending endo will empower our workers and improve their quality of life."