A MILITANT group held a rally in front of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) 7 yesterday and asked the agency to scrap the policy that prohibits labor-only contracting.
Around 50 members of the Buklurang Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP) were opposing Department Order (DO) 174, which seeks to end contractualization.
The rally was held four days before the Labor Day celebration on May 1.
Teody Navea, chairperson of the BMP-Cebu, said that DO 174 only “legitimized the existence of contracting agencies.”
Navea criticized DOLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III for failing to solve the problem on contractualization, which was promised by President Rodrigo Duterte.
He urged Bello to resign from his post.
“The inability of the labor department to heed the President’s call to end contractualization is something that the current administration must think about. Secretary Bello’s biases are very clear. He does not represent the Filipino workers,” he said.
In the middle of yesterday’s protest, DOLE 7 Director Elias Cayanong came out of his office and invited Navea and his group to a dialogue. The group, however, refused.
Cayanong said that their department has encouraged establishments to “voluntary comply” with DO 174.
The order, which laid down the new regulations governing contracting and subcontracting arrangements, was issued last month.
One of its salient features is the absolute prohibition on labor-only contracting.