The implementation of labor contracting in the Philippines has created issues and concerns. Foremost in these issues is the “5-5-5” arrangement where contractual workers are terminated after five months, and then re-hired again for another five months. Regardless of the prohibition on the repeated hiring of contractual workers, reports of contractors and principals circumventing the law on security of tenure have surfaced.

This arrangement in labor contracting created insecurity in the labor market, depriving contractual workers of their right to decent and full employment. The purpose of this research is to examine the cases of “5-5-5” scheme in labor contracting through the conduct of case studies in selected industries. Particularly, it seeks to identify models of hiring practices and knowledge and policy gaps in the implementation of Department Order 18-A, the regulation governing labor contracting in the Philippines.

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Title: Examining the “5-5-5” Arrangement in Contractualization: A Study on the Repeated Hiring Practices of Firms in Selected Industries
Researcher: Ivan Cassidy F. Villena