DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/02 August) – President Rodrigo R.
Duterte on Monday warned he would close companies if they are found to be still practicing contractualization.
In a media interview at the Malacañang Palace, Duterte hit the companies’s “lackadaisical attitude” towards contractualization and told them to pay their employees justly.
“Hintuan na ninyo yan, bayaran ninyo ang tao sa tamang suweldo (Stop it, pay the workers the right wages). Stop contractualization!” he said.
He said Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III will send personnel to inspect companies to ensure they stop contractualization.
He warned them to “not wait for us to inspect” because “I’ll just simply close your plant and would always find a thousand reason to do it.”
“I would like to assume that everybody who falls under that category will honor what we are asking for the people. Huwag na ninyo akong hintayin na mahuli ko kayo (Don’t wait for me to catch you) because I will be unforgiving. You will not only lose your money, you will lose your funds,” he said.
Duterte said he feels sorry for contractual workers who are made to work for more than eight hours a day and do tasks that are not in line with their skills.
“Some are despondent, they are being passed from one expertise to another. Sabi ko, yung TESDA, we spend so much training people for a particular skill and kung yang contractualization na yan, he gets one position today, for the next five months, sabi ko nga, electricians, when all the while, he was trained to be a plumber or a carpenter. You do not help the people with the security of tenure,” he said.
He singled out the manpower and security agencies that supply contractual workers to companies.
He said these agencies should pay all the benefits that are due to the workers.
“Pay all the benefits. Yung mga nag-outsource, ikaw yung ahensya, the agency—you take over as the employer. Then pay, lahat kayo,huwag kayong yumaman diyan ng pawis ng kapwa ninyo tao. Kalokohan yan (Don’t enrich yourself with the sweat of other people. That’s foolishness. If you are nag-outsource, whatever, airlines, assume therefore as the real employer. So bayaran ninyo lahat,SSS,” he said.
The president said he would not take care of companies that fail to comply.
‘If you do not take care of the workers, then I cannot take care of you. Eh ano yan eh, … tit for tat. So, yan ang warning ko,” he said. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
