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MANILA -- PLDT Inc is implementing a government order to regularize workers "the wrong way" while Jollibee Foods was given time to comply with a similar directive, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III.

Instead of regularizing workers immediately, PLDT asked them apply, Bello told ANC's Headstart. Workers covered by the order are "already regular employees of PLDT, whether they like it or not," he said.

Bello said that while PLDT elevated its appeal to the Court of Appeals, the company had not secured a certiorari or halt order against the labor department's ruling.

Jollibee submitted a regularization plan, which the government found to be "fair," Bello said.

"We will regularize, but give us time," Bello said quoting the country's largest fastfood chain. "We will give you the time."

Contractualization is allowed only for seasonal or project-based work, Bello said.

Mall operator SM, for example, can hire seasonal sales staff, he said. Shipbuilders can hire employees whose tenures are tied to an extraordinarily large project, he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte, during his State of the Nation Address last Monday, urged Congress to pass a law that would "once and for all" end illegal contractualization.