THE pending Security of Tenure (SOT) bill is among the seven legislative proposals now being discussed by the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (Ledac) for immediate passage.
During a consultation meeting of Ledac on Monday, Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said he was asked to provide an update by the council members about the SOT bill.
“Our proposal is for us to endorse it [to be certified as urgent],” Bello told reporters during a media briefing on Tuesday.
The labor official was referring to Senate Bill (SB) 1862, which is still in the second hearing.
Aside from the SOT bill, Bello disclosed other legislation that were discussed by the Ledac were the bills on tariffication and federalism.
SB 1862 is expected to restrict the practice of contractualization in the country by making the qualifications for service providers more stringent and imposing fines against companies that will violate it.
Its counterpart bill at the House of Representatives, House Bill (HB) 6908 has already passed its third and final reading.
Bello said the members of the Ledac have agreed to take it up in the upcoming official Ledac meeting.
None of the Ledac members, including the Duterte administration’s economic managers, have expressed opposition against the bill, although they noted the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will have a hard time for congressional lobbying.
Bello said he is hopeful the passage of SB 1862 will be fast-tracked once it is certified as urgent by Malacañang.
To recall, President Duterte appealed to lawmakers to prioritize the passage of the SOT bill, but fell short of certifying the said legislation as urgent.