Business leaders expressed their support to President Rodrigo Duterte’s call to put an end to labor contractualization during his third State of the Nation Address (SoNA) yesterday.

International Chamber of Commerce-Philippines (ICCP) Founder and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) Chairman Emeritus Francis Chua said ending the practice of contractualization will benefit underprivileged Filipinos.

“The President once again showed his heart for the masses, for the underprivileged. He is determined to abolish the contractualization for the benefit of the worker. He is for the nation,” Chua said.

Legislative moves to end contractualization also gained support from the Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP).

“I agree we should put it into law,” ECOP Chairman Donald Dee said. But he also hoped that “people will not intrepret the statement in very general terms” pertaining to the message of President Duterte in his SoNA.

Korean Chamber of Commerce Philippines (KCCP) President Hoik Lee said the business group “strongly supports” putting an end to “illegal” contractualization.

“We, Korean Chamber strongly support it, especially we are strongly against the so-called ‘5-5-5’,” Lee said.

In his SoNA, President Duterte asked the Congress “to pass legislation ending contractualization”.

“Read my lips, I understand that this does not satisfy all sectors. I share their sentiment. I truly do. Much as I would like the impossible, that power is not vested upon me by the Constitution,” Duterte said.

Last May, Duterte signed an Executive Order to protect the workers’ right to security of tenure, which he mentioned that resulted to regularization to some 300,000 workers as of early this month.

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