By Dominique Gabriel G. Bañaga

After claiming Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello III is unable to fulfill the promise to end contractualization, the Negros chapter of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP), a self-described socialist workers’ organization, is demanding President Rodrigo Duterte to issue an executive order to end the practice.
“It is but logical, if there is an iota of sincerity and seriousness in the words of President Duterte, an executive order be enacted to prohibit contractualization,” the group said in an email sent last night.
They also noted, the president calling Department Order 174, which created contractualization, “legal” as “unacceptably stupid.”
BMP added, after more than two decades of contractualization, the country now has a cheap and docile labor force that could not defend itself against unjust practices of abusive employers.
The workers’ group is calling on the president to fire the DOLE secretary, saying Bello is “playing politics” and, asserted, he should be taking action, claiming the department order “gives power to the labor secretary to prohibit [contractualization] in order to protect the rights and welfare of workers.”/WDJ