The veto of the Security of Tenure bill is a wake-up call for all stakeholders, regulators, policymakers, employers and organized labor. It is a testament that in this world, nothing is perfect, not even the best crafted bill that has been subjected to prolonged review and wide public consultation.

“ Authors of SoT should be true statesmen and patriotic politicians to take the veto as an opportunity to take a longer and harder look at certain inequitable provisions and craft a more balanced bill.

The authors of the SoT bill may have heard only the first part of the President’s order to “end ‘endo’ but do not destroy the employers.”

Some legislators believe that a bill certified as urgent by the President gives them unlimited liberty to craft provisions wantonly, confident that the bill will be signed robotically.

Because of the veto, organized labor groups will hold the obligatory street marches to protest and, with nationalistic fervor, denounce the colonial powers represented by foreign chambers of immoral interference in our domestic affairs. These groups conveniently ignore the new universal economic order where investors, irrespective of nationalities, have become global citizens of an extremely connected world as they locate their factories everywhere.

The veto does not impugn the character, competence nor the compassion of the authors of the bill. The Executive and economic managers have detected some overreaching provisions in the bill that may have been overlooked during its deliberations. The authors of SoT should be true statesmen and patriotic politicians to take the veto as an opportunity to take a longer and harder look at certain inequitable provisions and craft a more balanced bill that benefits both employers and workers alike. Since an override may be improbable, it is expected that there will be public displays of hurt as they perceive the veto to be an act of betrayal. Soon after they will refile the SoT bill either in its original or amended form.

This is the reason employers, economists, and investors have expressed guarded relief on the veto because experience has shown that the vetoed bill will resurrect together with more bills of similar nature.

If we analyze the campaign promise of then presidential candidate Duterte to end ‘endo’ and his recent veto of SoT, there is no disconnect between the campaign promise and the presidential veto.

‘Endo’ is an illegal act under the Labor Code even before the issuance of Department of Labor and Employment Department Order 174 and Executive Order 51. Both orders further fortified the ban on ‘endo’ with additional stringent rules and stricter enforcement.

Admittedly, ‘endo’ might have lingered spottily in the early days of his presidency but with his strong public pronouncements to stop the practice and his issuance of EO 51, he virtually ended ‘endo.’ But he never authorized the oppression of employers to achieve his goal because he knows that workers and employers are like Siamese twins — you kill one, you kill both.

What he promised, he delivered.

Still, some militant labor unions continue to agitate for SoT not only to end “endo” but to annihilate employers, a self-destructive crusade that will surely put our economy in total disarray. With our consistent unemployed and underemployed 10 million workers, it is best instead to focus on bills that will attract new investments to generate more jobs and enhance the overall competitiveness of our industries.

Excessively protecting workers who are already amply safeguarded by the Labor Code will only encourage indolence among our workers and disincentivize investments.

The struggle for SoT approval or veto need not be seen as a case of victorious employers and vanquished workers. Rather, it should be viewed as a turning point towards a joint, collective and productive collaboration between workers and employers, working in the spirit of fairness and transparency, to achieve a world class economy to end poverty.

Additionally, the Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary branches of our government must synchronize their policies to accelerate our economic development without worrying about turf and the constitutional separation of powers. We appeal to our comrades in the labor unions to discard the generational mistrust, partisan leanings, and put an end to our perpetual conflictuality so we can journey together towards a better tomorrow.

Source: https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2019/08/02/sot-the-day-after/