After President Rodrigo Duterte earlier admitted to encountering difficulties in fulfilling his campaign promise to end contractualization, the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) yesterday called on labor unions to have more patience.

“I appeal to the labor groups to have little patience,” said DOLE Undersecretary Joel Maglunsod. “DOLE is doing everything possible to end contractualization of labor.”

“The president is doing his best to address the problems of labor contractualization,” he added.

Earlier this week, Duterte recognized both the limited number of businesses operating in the country and the rights of business owners when it comes to the issue of ending contractualization.

The president said the government cannot “make it hard” for businesses to operate freely, noting, “That’s their money.”

He added, “There are few businesses to absorb the human resource.”

Many urging the administration to end the practice are concerned with job security, with some wishing to use that tenure of employment to organize as labor unions./PLL, WDJ