Asia | Endo without end

In the Philippines, Duterte breaks his vow to reform labour laws

That may be good for the country’s economy, but workers will not thank him

Jul 27th 2017|SINGAPORE

AS A presidential candidate, Rodrigo Duterte had strong views about “contractualisation” and “endo”—big firms’ habit of hiring employees indirectly, via temping agencies, often on renewable five-month contracts. He agreed with labour activists that corporate giants use these practices to avoid providing health care and other benefits, and said they should be banned. Indeed, he promised to lean on Congress to ban contractualisation in the first week of his presidency. “Pay the benefits,” he growled on the campaign trail. “Don’t wait for me to catch you because I will be unforgiving. You will not only lose your money, you will lose your pants.”

This article appeared in the Asia section of the print edition under the headline “Endo without end”