Maglungsod, workers’ rights, and Duterte’s children

AT the Davao Business Summit organized by the incoming Duterte administration, I caught a bit of the news conference where the promise of ending contractualization was discussed to be a matter of following the law: ENDO (end of contract) is against the law, it was repeated. That is, to hire contractual employees with the promise of ending their contracts before they are up for regularization, which means benefits and higher pay, is against the law.

What was also mentioned was the fact that there are, in fact, some industries that live off a specific kind of contractualization that isn’t bad at all. We were told, for example, that some cultural workers might only work for the duration of a TV show, which is a form of contractual employment that is acceptable. There are also call centers that take on short-term contracts that would also require them to hire agents within a fixed term.