Santos, V. K. B. (2018). The war on labor contractualization: Revisiting the Rules of Labor contractualization in the Philippines (Unpublished master's thesis). Public Management Development Program, Development Academy of the Philippines.

Public Management and Development Program Senior Executive Class Batch 6 Thesis (SEC)--Development Academy of the Philippines.

During the campaign period, the issue on contractualization has been one of the primary platforms of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte (PRD). In an article appearing in the Philippine Daily Inquire, PRD openly opposed labor contractualization and has expressively declared that ending it would be one of his priority measures aside from his anti-crime zeal if elected as president. After he won in the May 2016 National Elections, the said issue became one of the President's primary agenda. A marching order was issued to Secretary of Labor and Employment (SOLE) Silvestre H. Bello, III to end labor contractualization in the entire country by December 2017. Acting on instruction of SOLE, all DOLE Regional Offices started to prioritize assessment of establishments that were suspected to engage in labor-only contracting (LOC) prioritizing malls, fastfood chains and manufacturing companies. This was possible through the visitorial and enforcement power of the SOLE under Article 128 of the Labor Code. On the part of DOLE Regional Office 9 (DOLE9), through its then Regional Director Sisinio B. Cano, an authority to assess for the conduct of joint-assessment was issued for companies in the Zamboanga Peninsula to include Century Pacific Food Inc. (CPFI), and Alavar Aviary Maintenance and Janitorial Services, located at Dumagsa Talisayan, and Tetuan, Zamboanga City, respectively. In both cases, violations under the General Labor Standards (GLS) were found by the Labor Law Compliance Officers (LLCO's) in the course of the assessment (GLS) specifically on Department Order 18-A (now Department Order 174-17) on LOC. hence, in accordance with D.O. 131-B-16 or the Revised Rules on Labor Laws Compliance System (RRLLCS), mandatory conference was conducted to give management the opportunity to answer the results of the assessments. In both cases, the respondent establishments failed to contradict the finding of the LLCO's. Consequently, the RD of DOLE9 issued separate compliance orders against the respondents. In the case of CPFI, they files a Memorandum of Appeal questioning the decision of the RD. On June 2016, the Office of the SOLE issued an Order setting aside the decision of the DOLE9. The decision of the Secretary cited that the grounds for reversal was the non-compliance of the two (2) requirements under paragraph 1 of Section 6 of DO 18-A, therefore, Great Hands possessed the qualification as an independent contractor. Due to the reversal of the decision, DOLE9 reviewed and evaluated all pending cases with issues on LOC and examined closely the documents and findings of the LLCO's to ensure that all the requirements mandated under D.O. 18-A were fully complied, to establish a solid foundation for a valid declaration of the existence LOC, which will result in the regularization of workers and prevent reversal decision in the future. DOLE 9 conducted several meetings with the LLCO to review their process in the conduct of Joint-Assessment (JA) specifically focusing on Labor Contractualization. The gathering also aimed to further capacitate them on the laws and procedures governing LOC, and, on the part of management, to gather information on the difficulties they face in the conduct of JA and in establishing the requisites of LOC. The reversal of the decision served as a wakeup call for DOLE9 to further strengthen its process on the war against illegal contractualization. However, in the case of Alavar Aviary, they were not able to perfect their appeal on time and the order of DOLE9 became final and executory which they voluntarily complied with. This case was controversial because it's the first time for DOLE9 to issue a compliance order involving a public entity that engaged the services of a contractor not registered with the department. DOLE9 considered this case a success because it paved the way for the improvement of the workers' situation and also resulted to the upgrade of the budget of the LGU for their outsourcing services. Lastly, this case boosted the morale of DOLE9 LLCO'c knowing that their efforts to perform their functions were not wasted and has helped better the state of the workers.