In Isabela City, Basilan, eighteen (18) workers performing/assisting in meter reading and administrative personnel from Basilan Electric Cooperative (BASELCO) were regularized in the earnest effort of management to absorb qualified and deserving employees and abide by the minimum requirements of the Labor Code of the Philippines.

Riding high on the President's directive to end the war on contractualization and the practice of end of contract - endo or "5-5-5", the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) through the Isabela City Field Office and in partnership with the Isabela City Tripartite Industrial Peace Council (TIPC) converge 36 industry players - workers, management and government on September 9, 2016 at the Formation Center, Brgy. Sta. Cruz, this city. The Dialogue with Stakeholders was composed of TIPC partners, employers/managers, workers, rubber cooperatives, contractors/subcontractors and public sector from service, hospitals, arrastre, utility and educational institution.

To provide guidance and uniform understanding, the following major topics were discussed by Labor Laws Compliance Officers Nenita Garcia and Engr. Wesley Tan: TIPC Roles and Responsibilities, Salient Features of Department Order 18-A, the Guidelines Governing Contracting and Subcontracting Arrangement with relevant Updates from Department Order 162 entitled Suspending the Registration of New Applicants as Contractors/Subcontractors and Labor Advisory No. 10 entitled Prohibition Against Labor Only Contracting. Likewise, the provisions on Art. 293 [279] Security of Tenure, Art. 294 [280] Regular and Casual Employment and Art. 295 [281] Probationary Employment were shared to the participants.

A Workshop ensued wherein the participants engaged with the resource persons relevant inquiries on the issues on contractualization and repeated hiring practices.

The consultation resulted to various feedbacks notably the absorptive capacity of management to employ all contractual employees, the constitutional right to security of tenure, strict compliance to the mandatory contract rates, the regulations with respect to government offices engaging into repeated hiring practices, maintenance of outsourced workers at the minimum, the practice involves legal and multi-dimensional perspective and considerations.

In order to reach out to stakeholders, twin media advocacies through DXNO 97.5 FM was also facilitated. Tripartite involvement and commitment are crucial indicators in addressing the marching order to reduce by fifty percent the contracting and subcontracting and endo or 5-5-5 practices by the end of 2016 and eradication by 2017.

(with report from Nenita Garcia, DOLE Isabela)