The Philippine Church and Contractualization of
Labor
"I have heard the cry of my people, because they are held in bondage,
and I have remembered My covenant" (Ex. 6:5).
The ascendancy of Pope Francis to the papacy has given much hope to
the Church especially his perceptible and profound concern for the poor.
One of the first words he has spoken was, "How I long for a poor Church for
the poor!"
With these words spoken after being elected pope, Jorge Bergoglio
underscored a theme that continues to be front-and-center of his papacy.
Not surprisingly, such statements demonstrate that Pope Francis wants
Catholics to devote greater attention to poverty-alleviation.[1]
PCP-II
Poverty alleviation one of the visions of the Philippine Catholic
Church. During the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines, the
Philippine Church boldly proclaimed: "As we approach the year 2000, in
order to credibly witness to the love of God in Christ Jesus, Christ bids
this community . . . the laity, religious and clergy of the Catholic Church
in the Philippines to be Church of the poor"[2] (PCP 124). Since PCP-II,
the expression, Church of the poor, has become a central theme and the main
thrust of the Philippine Church. And one of the most important aspects of
being a Church of the Poor is for the Church to be able to help the poor
people rise up from the bondage of poverty, become self-sufficient and
regain their dignity as children of God.[3]
However more than twenty years after PCP II, it is sad to note that
the Philippine Church has not really taken any major concrete step towards
alleviating poverty in the country. Whereas the domestic anti-poverty
program of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has approved more than
$9 million in grants to help alleviate poverty and injustice throughout the
United States,[4] the Philippine Church has not allocated anything to
promote its vision of becoming a Church of the Poor and alleviating the
severe poverty that majority of our people are experiencing for decades.
The vision of Church of the Poor has just remained a rhetoric. Twenty years
after PCP-II, the incidence of poverty in the Philippines remained as high
as ever.
The Evil of Contractualization
Indeed poverty is such a complex phenomenon and there are numerous
factors that leads to the continuing bondage to poverty of majority of our
people. But the fact cannot be denied, that despite the unprecedented
growth rate of 7.6% in our Gross National Product (GDP) which our
government officials are constantly boasting of, the resultant effect of
the massive GDP growth has not tricked to the poor masses. And one of the
main reason is that our poor workers still toil for very low wages, and are
blatantly subjected to unfair labor practices, one of which is the
contractualization and outsourcing of regular jobs.
Contractualization is a practice wherein laborers are given only 5-
month contracts to keep them from becoming regular employees because
according to the Philippine Labor Law, a laborer who has completed six
months of employment automatically becomes a permanent employee. These
contractual employees are not given any benefit normally given to regular
employees such as SSS, Philhealh or Pag-Ibig. In most cases, since they are
not yet regular employees, they are given salaries way below the prescribed
minimum wage. Thus, the practice of employers is to terminate the laborer
after five months, with or without a just cause. Now how can a person rise
up from poverty and become self sufficient if he finds himself without a
job every after five months of work? This is the reason why contractual
workers become perennially poor.
The main point is, labor contractualization is illegal,
unconstitutional and immoral. The practice of using agency contractual
labor is illegal according to provisions of Philippine labor laws. Article
279 of the Labor Code of the Philippines speaks of Security of Tenure for
employees. It states that "In cases of regular employment, the employer
shall not terminate the services of an employee except for a just
cause."[5]
Further, the Philippine Constitution also guarantee security of
tenure for employees. The guarantee of security of tenure under the
Constitution means that an employee cannot be dismissed from the service
for causes other than those provided by law and only after due process is
accorded the employee.[6] It has been also settled that even if
probationary employees do not enjoy permanent status, they are accorded the
constitutional protection of security of tenure. This means they may only
be terminated for just cause or when they otherwise fail to qualify as
regular employees in accordance with reasonable standards made known to
them by the employer at the time of their engagement.[7]
Employers, local and transnational, however have gotten away defying
Philippine labor laws. It is apparent that the Department of Labor has
neither clout nor guts to address this crime. Capital makes billions each
quarter. And the great irony is, the contractual workers who are creating
all those billions of net profit live below subsistence level. A study by
the International Labor Organization found that the rate of
"contractualization" is now at 70% of the Philippine workforce. Almost
every large company depends on contractual workers to get the day's
business done.
The government guidelines on subcontracting must protect the interests
of both capital and labor. In fact, when most companies' net profit amounts
to millions or billions every year, the contractual minimum wage laborer
who bleeds and sweats to create billions of profit for his employer, is
left with not enough to eat. The contractual agency also grabs a slice from
the employee's daily minimum wage as administrative fee.[8]
Laborem Excersens
Ultimately, contractualization of labor is not only illegal and
unconstitutional but more so immoral as it goes against the social teaching
of the Church. The encyclical Laborem Excersens of Pope John Paul II
evidently indicates that full employment is a basic human right of a
laborer.
We must first direct our attention to a fundamental issue: the
question of finding work, or, in other words, the issue of suitable
employment for all who are capable of it." The problem is not a lack
of resources—"conspicuous natural resources remain unused"—but poor
organization. The criterion of full employment will only be achieved
through planning and coordination among all the indirect employers,
and a better coordination of education with employment.[9]
Thirty years after the release of the encyclical, workers still toil
for very low wages, and are subjected to unfair labor practices,
contractualization and outsourcing of regular jobs. And this issue is
undoubtedly a moral one. When the government continues to encourage the
export of manpower as alternative employment, when poverty and injustice
are everywhere, these matter turn into a moral issue.[10]
The workers are counting on Church leaders to fight this decade-old
injustice. And the Church ought to speak up and do what it preaches, not
only on putting emphasis on the holy sacraments but more so on putting
flesh and blood to social encyclicals like Laborem Exercens. [11] It is
only by means of putting a firm stand against the evil of labor
contractualization can the Philippine Church contribute, albeit minutely,
to the alleviation of poverty that it has envisioned in the Second Plenary
Council of the Philippines and the teaching of our new Pontiff, Pope
Francis.
There had been numerous bills pending in Congress against this unfair
labor practice.[12] Problem is, most of them are left unacted by our
lawmakers. That is why the Catholic Bishop's Conference of the Philippines
would like to add its voice in order to ensure that this evil labor
practice called contractualization would be put on halt by our
lawmakers.[13]
May St. Joseph, the patron of saint of workers, guide our people in
combating the evils of contractualization and thereby realize the vision of
becoming a Church of the Poor.
-----------------------
[1] Samuel Gregg, "Pope Francis on the True Meaning of Poverty."
Crisis Magazine, June 5, 2013.
[2] Acts and Decrees of the Second Plenary Council of the Philippines
(Manila: Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines, 1992), xciv.
[3] Arnel F. Lagarejos, The Church of the Poor: A New Perspective on
The Church, The State, and The Poor. Pontificia Universita Gregoriana,
1998.
[4] Catholic News Agency, http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/us-
bishops-group-approves-9-million-in-anti-poverty-funds.
[5] The 1976 Labor Code of the Philippines, Article 279.
[6] Philippine Jurisprudence, Phil-Singapore Transport Services, Inc.,
vs. NLRC, G.R. No. 95449, August 18, 1997.
[7] Philippine Jurisprudence, Agoy vs. NRLC, 112096, 30 January 1996.
[8] Dahli Aspillera, Malaya Business Insight, published on Monday, 27
May 2013.
[9] John Paul II, Laborem Exercens, 1 May 1981, AAS 73 (1981): 13.
[10] Arthur R. Barrit, Sunstar Newspaper, September 12, 2011
[11] Ibid.
[12] For instance, House Bill No. 3402 introduced by DIWA Party-list
Representative Emmeline Y. Aglipay: An act strengthening the security of
tenure of employees in the Labor Code of the Philippines.
[13] How I wish that all the efforts put into action by the CBCP
against the RH Law would also be applied to fight against this immeasurable
malpractice.
