House OKs Security Of Tenure Bill On Final Reading

House approved Security of Tenure bill on final reading.

The House of Representatives approved House Bill 7036 or the amended version of the proposed Security of Tenure Act on third and final reading.

Through a 204-7 vote, the House of Representatives voted to pass the said bill proposing an end to labor-only contracting in the Philippines.

Three House members did not participate in the voting.

Security of Tenure bill
Photo source: Manila Bulletin

1Pacman Partylist Rep. Enrico Pineda, the chairperson of the House Committee on Labor and Employment, said that the Lower House was confident that it was able to address the reasons why President Rodrigo Duterte vetoed the bill that Congress had approved last year.

Aside from Pineda, other authors of the said bill included Michael Edgar Aglipay (DIWA Partylist); Jesse Mangaoang (PDP-Laban, Kalinga); and Deputy Speaker Precious Hipolito Castelo (PDP-Laban, Quezon City).

Six (6) Makabayan solons voted to reject the bill after withdrawing as co-authors of the said bill.

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Pineda’s rejection of their amendments to the said bill triggered the decision.

Pineda also noted that the opposition solons actively participated in the committee deliberations of the measure but didn’t declare their opposition to the final version of the said bill.

Makabayan bloc lawmakers were joined by Minority Leader and Abang Lingkod Partylist Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano who insisted that the said bill “departs from the original intent of the old bill which was to eliminate endo.”

Paduano explained that HB 6908 (the first bill) outlawed contractualization, while HB 7036 (approved bill) legalized job contracting.

This will complicate the issue due to the very thin line that separates labor contracting from job contracting,” Paduano said.

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