MANILA - Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday reiterated her position against labor contractualization, noting that her stance on workers' rights has not changed since her days as a labor lawyer and as a lawmaker.

The presidential aspirant said this in a gathering of workers and officials of project development company Metro Stonerich Corporation.

• How Robredo presidency would look like: Focus on pandemic, fix ‘weak’ institutions

She was asked by an office employee in a packaged video material about her position on “endo” or end of contract scheme, to which she responded that a worker's rights to job security should be upheld.

“Since congresswoman ako naging vocal ako on contractualization, saka strengthening ng security of tenure sa paniniwala na dapat ang manggagawa binibigyan siya ng seguridad na pag nagkaroon siya ng trabaho ay tuloy-tuloy ang trabaho,” Robredo explained.

(Since I was a congresswoman, I have been vocal about contractualization and strengthening ng security of tenure with the belief that a worker should be given job security)

“Endo” refers to the practice of employers where they end the contracts of employees on the fifth month to avoid granting workers regular employee status.

She said the practice of “endo" is not right.

“Laganap kasi ang practice na ang employment hanggang 5 months lang, tapos papahingahin sila ng sandali tapos iha-hire na naman at a later time para nalulusutan ang required na pag-regularize... mali ito,” Robredo said.

(The practice is rampant, that a worker would be only hired for 5 months and then they would have no job for a while until they get hired again at a later time. This is not right.)

She also pointed out that the Labor Code of the Philippines is pro-worker but not on the ground when it comes to actual labor cases.

“Yung sa akin lang, marami ang improvements na kailangan gawin, matagal akong labor lawyer, pag tinignan natin ang Labor Code of the Philippines, sobrang kampi ito sa employees, ang ibig kong sabihin maganda, pero sa katotohan ang pag operationalize nito hindi ideal,” Robredo said.

(For me, there are a lot of improvements to be made. I am a labor lawyer for a very long time. When we look at the Labor Code of the Philippines, it is siding with the employees but in reality, the operationalization is not ideal)

Robredo, during the #HarapanBise debate on ABS-CBN in 2016, said she plans to work on removing labor contractualization.

• Remove ENDO, Leni says in ABS-CBN's VP debate

Endo was one of the campaign promises of President Rodrigo Duterte.

In 2018, Duterte urged Congress to to pass legislation that will "once and for all" stop illegal contractualization.

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