LABOR LAW 1
AZUCENA
Article 1. Name of the Decree
This Decree shall be known as the “Labor
Code of the Philippines”.
Article 2. Date of Effectivity
This Code shall take effect six (6) months
after its promulgations.
1. LABOR LEGISLATION
- Consists of statutes, regulations
and jurisprudence governing the
relations between capital and
labor, by providing for certain
employment standards and a
legal framework for negotiating,
adjusting and administering
those standards and
other incidents of employment.
- Broadly divided into labor
standards and labor relations.
Labor Standards Law
- Provides the least terms and
conditions of employment of
that which employers must
comply with and to which
employees are entitled as a
matter of legal right.
- Minimum requirements
prescribed by existing laws, rules
and regulations relating to
wages, hours of work, cost-of-
living allowance, and other
monetary and welfare benefits,
including occupational, safety
and health standards.
- Material or substance to be
processed
- Book 1 to 4 of the Labor Code
- Issues about employment tenure
and terminations fall in the area
of labor relations
- In a decision penned by a former
labor secretary said, “It is an
elementary rule in the law on
labor relations that even a
probationary employee is
entitled to security of tenure.
Labor Relations Law
- Defines status, rights and duties
and the institutional
mechanisms that govern the
individual and collective
interactions, of employers,
employees or their
representatives.
- Mechanism that processes the
substance
- Book 5 to 6 of the Labor Code
Is “labor” different from “industrial”
relations?
- Some academics use labor
relations to refer to situations involving
unionized companies and industrial
relations for non-unionized ones, or labor
relations to refer to matters internal to the
labor sector and industrial relations to
management-labor interactions.
Labor
- In ordinary signification, is
understood as physical toil
although it does not necessarily
exclude the application of skill,
thus there is skilled and unskilled
labor.
Skill
- Is the familiar knowledge of any
art of science, united with
readiness and dexterity in
execution or performance or in
the application of the art or
science to practical purposes.
Work
- Broader than labor as work
covers all forms of physical or
mental exertion, or both
combined, for attainment of
some object other than
recreation or amusement per se.
Worker
 - Broader than employee as
workers may refer to self-
employed people and those
working in the service and under
the control of another,
regardless of rank, title or nature
of work,
- Ex. Messenger, manager
- Under Art. 13 of LCP, any
member of the labor force,
whether employed
unemployed is a worker.
Employee
- Salaried person working for
another who controls or
supervises the means, manner
or method of doing the work.
2. LABOR LAW AND SOCIAL
LEGISLATION
Social Legislation
- those laws that provide
particular kinds of protection or
benefits to society or segments
thereof in furtherance of social
justice.
- Labor laws are necessarily social
legislation
Ex. Agrarian Reform Law; law
providing for social security
system; provisions on State
Insurance Fund of LPC to cover
work-related injuries and
occupational diseases.
Labor Laws directly affect employment
while social legislation governs effects of
employment.
Labor laws are social legislation but not all
social legislations are labor laws.
3. SOCIAL JUSTICE AS THE AIM
Social Justice
- The aim, reason and justification
of labor laws
- Neither communism, nor
despotism, nor atomism nor
anarchy, but the humanization
of laws and the equalization of
social and economic forces by
the State so that justice in its
rational and objectively secular
conception may at least be
approximated.
- Promotion of the welfare of all
or the people, the adoption by the
Government of measures
calculated to insure economic
stability of all the component
elements of society through the
maintenance of proper
economic and social equilibrium
in the interrelations of the
member of the community,
constitutionally through the
adoption of measures legally
justifiable, or extra-
constitutionally through the
exercise of powers underlying
the existence of all governments,
on the time-honored principle of
salus populi est suprema lex.
- As a juridical principle, it
prescribes equality of the
people, rich or poor, before the
law.
- As a societal goal, it means the
attainment of decent quality of
life of the masses though
humane productive efforts.
- The pursuit of social justice does
not require making the rich poor
but by lawful process, making
the rich share with the
government the aim to realize
social justice.
- What it and the Constitution do
guaranty are equality of
opportunity, equality of political
rights, equality before the law,
equality between values given
and received, and equitable
sharing of the social and material
goods on the basis of efforts
exerted in their production.
The 1987 Constitution gives fundamental
significance to social justice. The
Declaration of State Policies provides that
the State shall promote a just and dynamic
social order that will ensure the prosperity
and independence of the nation and free
the people from poverty through policies
that provide adequate social services,
promote full employment, a rising standard
of living and an improved quality of life for
all.
The Constitution says “the State shall
promote social justice in all phases of
national development.” Furthermore, the
State affirms labor as a primary social
economic force. Therefore, “it shall protect
the rights of workers and promote their
welfare.”
The Commission devotes an entire Article –
Article 8 with 14 Sections to Social Justice
and Human Rights.” This Article in part
provides:
Section 1. The Congress shall give
highest priority to the enactment of
measures that protect and enhance
the right of all the people to human
dignity, reduce social, economic and
political inequalities and remove
cultural inequities diffusing wealth
and political power for the common
good.
To this end, the State shall regulate
the acquisition, ownership, use and
disposition of property and its
increments.
Section 2. The promotion of social
justice shall include the commitment
to create economic opportunities
based on freedom of initiative and
self-reliance.
4. CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS AND
MANDATES
If there should be conflict between
constitutional provisions and those
of the Labor Code, the Constitution
shall prevail as it is the highest law
of the land.
The Constitution declares as a state
policy: “The State affirms as a
primary social economic force. It
shall protect the rights of workers
and promote their welfare. “The
State shall afford protection to
labor, local and overseas, organized
and unorganized, and promote full
employment and equality of
employment opportunities for all.”
The Constitution enumerates the
guaranteed basic rights of workers,
namely:
1. To organize themselves
2. To conduct collective bargaining
or negotiation with management
3. To engage in peaceful concerted
activities, including to strike in
accordance with law;
4. To enjoy security of tenure
5. To work under humane
conditions;
6. To receive a living wage
7. To participate in policy and
decision-making processes
affecting their rights and
benefits as may be provided by
law.
Other provisions in the new Const. protect
the rights or promote the welfare of
workers. Among these provisions are:
1. The right of the people, including
those employed in the public and
private sectors, to form unions,
associations, or societies for
purposes not contrary to law shall
not be abridged.
2. The right of self-organization shall
not be denied to government
employees. No officer or employee
of the civil service shall be removed
or suspended except for a cause
provided by law. Temporary
employees of the Government shall
be given such protection as may be
provided by law.
3. Regular farmworkers shall have the
right to own directly or collectively
the lands they till. Other
farmworkers shall receive a just
 share of the fruits of the land they
till. The State recognizes the right of
farmworkers, along with other
groups, to take part in the planning,
organization and management of
the agrarian reform program.
Landless farmworkers may be
resettled by the Government in its
own agricultural estates.
4. The State shall, by law, and for the
common good, undertake in
cooperation with the private sector,
a continuing program, of urban land
reform and housing which will make
available at affordable cost decent
housing and basic services to
underprivileged and homeless
citizens in urban centers and
resettlement areas. It shall also
promote adequate employment
opportunities to such citizens.
5. The State shall protect working
women by providing safe and
healthful working conditions, taking
into account their maternal
functions, and such facilities and
opportunities that will enhance their
welfare and enable them to realize
their full potential in the service of
the nation.
6. Along with other sectors, labor is
entitled to seats allotted to party-list
representatives for three
consecutive terms after the
ratification of the Constitution.
7. The goals of the national economy
are a more equitable distribution of
opportunities, income and wealth; a
sustained increase in the amount of
goods and services produced by the
nation for the benefit of the people;
and an expanding productivity as
the key to raising the quality of life
for all, especially the
underprivileged. The State
agricultural development and
agrarian reform, through industries
that make full and efficient use of
human and natural resources.
8. Congress shall create an agency to
promote the viability and growth of
cooperatives as instruments for
social justice and economic
development.
9. At the earliest possible time, the
Government shall increase the
salary increase the salary scales of
the other officials and employees of
the National Government.
10. Career civil service employees
separated from the service not for
cause but as a result of the
reorganization shall be entitled to
appropriate separation pay and to
retirement and other benefits under
existing laws. In lieu thereof, they
may also be considered for
reemployment in the Government.
Those whose resignations have been
accepted in line with the existing
policy shall also have this right.
5. BALANCING OF RIGHTS IN PRIVATE
ENTERPRISE SYSTEM
- The Constitution provides that
the State recognized the
indispensible role of the private
sector, encourages private
enterprise and provides
incentives to needed
investments.
- The State is mandated to
regulate the relations between
workers and employers.
Private Enterprises
- Is an economic system under
which property of all kinds can
be privately owned and in which
individuals, alone or in
association with another, can
embark on a business activity.
- The Constitution recognizes that
the private sector plays an
indispensable roles, something
the state cannot do without.
5.1 Shared Responsibility
-the Constitution commands
the State to promote the
 principle of shared 1. Labor laws or labor
responsibility between relations during a period
workers and employers and of national emergency
the preferential use of must substitute
voluntary modes of settling rationality for
disputes, including confrontation; therefore,
conciliation and to enforce strikes or lockouts give
their mutual compliance away to a rational
therewith to foster industrial process which is
peace. arbitration;
2. Laggard justice in the
labor filed is injurious to
6. POLICE POWER AS THE BASIS the workers, the
employers and the
- While social justice is the raison public; labor justice can
d’etre of labor laws, their basis be made expeditious
or foundation is the police without sacrificing due
power of the State process.
- Police power is the power of the 3. Manpower development
government to enact laws within and employment must be
constitutional limits, to promote regarded as a major
the order, safety, health, morals dimension of labor
and general welfare of society. policy, for there can be
- It has been ruled that the right no real equality of
of every person to pursue a bargaining power under
business, occupation, or conditions of severe mass
profession is subject to the unemployment;
paramount right of the 4. There is a global labor
government as part of its police market available to
power to impose such qualified Filipinos,
restrictions and regulations as especially those who are
the protection of the public may unemployed or whose
require. employment is
tantamount to
7. BIRTH OF THE LABOR CODE unemployment because
of their very little
- Writing of a labor code began in earnings.
1968 under the leadership of the 5. Labor laws must
then Minister of Labor, Mr. Blas command adequate
Ople, regarded as the Father of resources and acquire
the Labor Code capable machinery for
effective and sustained
- Was signed into law as P.D. No. implementation;
442 otherwise, they merely
breed resentment not
- took effect after 6 months only of the workers but
also of the employers.
8. PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING THE CODE When labor laws cannot
be enforced, both the
1. Labor relations must be employers and the
made both responsive workers are penalized
and responsible to and only a corrupt few –
national development; those who are in charge
of implementation may
 get the reward they do
deserve.
6. There should be popular
participation in national
policy-making through
what is not called
tripartism.
9. SOME LABOR LAWS BEFORE THE
PASSAGE OF THE CODE
- The oldest was Act No. 1874 or
the Employer’s Liability Act
enacted on June 19, 1908 by the
Philippine Legislature.
- There were also Act No. 2549
which prohibited payment of
wages in non-cash form
- Act No. 2071 prohibiting slavery
or involuntary servitude;
- R.A. No. 1054 requiring
emergency medical treatment
for employees
- C.A. No. 444 or the Eight-Hour
Labor Law
- Commonwealth Act No. 103
created the Court of Industrial
Relations, precursor of the
National Labor Relations
Commission under PD No. 21
and the present NLRC. Its task,
much like the present, was to
investigate, decide and settle all
disputes between employers and
employees.
- Industrial Peace Act was the law
governing labor-management
relations. Hailed as Magna Carta
of Labor, it was modeled after
the US Labor Management
Relations Act of 1947, also
known as the Taft-Harley Act
which amended NLR Act or the
Wagner Act.
- The Blue Sunday Law used to
forbid commercial, industrial or
agricultural enterprises to open
on Sunday, Christmas Day, New
Year’s Day, Holy Thursday and
Good Friday.
- The Termination Pay Law
enumerated the just causes for
terminating an employment
without a definite period and
allowed employers to separate
an employee by simply serving a
15-day notice per year of service
or instead of notice, by paying an
equivalent separation pay.
Security of tenure, now
protected by the Constitution
and the Labor Code was
nonexistent.
9.1 Significance of Foreign
Decisions
- The facts that the Industrial
Peace Act, precursor of the
present labor relations law, was
modeled after US laws is
significant because American
court decisions influence our
court’s rulings.
10. WHAT IS THE LABOR CODE?
- Is a set of substantive and
procedural laws that prescribe
the principal rights and
responsibilities of employers,
employees and the other
industrial participants, as well as
the role of the Government, in
employment and related
activities, so as to institute social
justice.
- Lays down the fundamental
rights and correlative obligations
of employers and employees to
each other, such as those about
work days and work hours, and
wage protection, validity of
dismissal as well as the
processes of unionization and
collective bargaining.
- Speaks of myriad concepts such
as employment relationship,
collective bargaining, and
employment termination.
- In any industrial relation system
there are three actors: the
employers, the employees and
the government agencies.
11. RELATED LAWS
11. 1 The Civil Code
- Describes basically the nature of
labor-management relations.
Art. 1700. The relations between
capital and labor are not merely
contractual. They are so impressed
with public interest that labor
contracts must yield to the common
good. Therefore, such contracts are
subject to the special laws on labor
unions, collective bargaining, strikes
and lockouts, closed shop, wages,
working conditions, hours of labor
and similar subjects.
Art. 1701. Neither capital nor labor
shall act oppressively against the
other, or impair the interest or
convenience of the public.
- No provision in the Labor Code
requires that employment
relationship should be voluntary.
- This is not needed in the Labor
Code because involuntary
servitude is already proscribed in
the Bill of Rights and in Art. 1703
of CC.
12. INTERNATIONAL ASPECT
Art. 1703. No contract which
practically amounts to
involuntary servitude, under any
guise whatsoever shall be valid.
- Because of this law, an employer
cannot forbid an employee from
resigning from his job, subject to
the observance of the terms of
the employment contract itself
and the procedure on
resignation under Art. 199 of
LCP.
11.2 The Revised Penal Code
- The laws that define and
penalize offenses are general
laws and therefore apply to all
human interactions whether the
persons involved are employers,
employees or otherwise.
- Art. 289 of the RPC punishes the
use of violence or threats by
either employer or employee.
Art. 289. The penalty of arresto
mayor and a fine not exceeding
P300 shall be imposed upon any
person who, for the purpose of
organizing, maintaining or
preventing coalitions of capital
or labor, strike of laborers or
lockout of employees, shall
employ violence or threats in
such a degree as to compel or
force the laborers or employers
in the free and legal exercise of
their industry or work, if the act
shall not constitute a more
serious offense in accordance
with the provisions of this Code.
11.3 Special Laws
- Other laws related to the subject
of the Labor Code include the
SSS law, the GSIS law, the
Agrarian Reform Law, the 13th
month pay law, the Magna Carta
for Public Health Workers and so
forth.
- Philippines is a member of the
ILO
- The International Labour
Organization (ILO) is the UN
specialized agency which seeks
the promotion of social justice
and internationally recognized
human and labour rights.
- ILO is the only surviving major
creation of the treaty of
Versailes which brought the
League of Nations into being and
it became the first specialized
agency of the UN.
- ILO formulates international
labour standards in the form of
Conventions and
Recommendations setting
minimum standards of basic
labour rights: freedom of
 association, the right to
organize, collective bargaining,
abolition of forced labour,
equality of opportunity and
treatment and other standards
regulating conditions across the
entire spectrum of work-related
issues.
- Essential characteristic of ILO is
tripartism that it is composed
not only of the government but
also of employees and workers
organization.
- The principle of tripartism
permeates the composition of
ILOs deliberative bodies and
influences in many respects the
contents of ILO instruments.
12.1 International Commitments
- Being an ILO member, the
Philippines subscribes to the
fundamental principles on
which the ILO is based that-
1. labor is not a commodity
2. freedom of expression and
of association are essential
to sustained progress.
3. that poverty anywhere
constitutes a danger to
prosperity everywhere
4. the war against want
requires to be carried on
with relenting vigor within
each nation, and by
continuous and concerned
international effort in which
the representatives of
workers and employers,
enjoying equal status with
those of governments, joint
with them in free discussion
and democratic decision with
a view to the promotion of
the common welfare.
Phil. Is committed to pursue
programmes that will
achieve certain objectices,
including:
1. Full employment and the
raising of standars of
living
2. Policies in regard to
wages and earnings,
hours and other
conditions of work
calculated to ensure a
just share of the fruits of
progress to all and a
minimum living wage to
all employed and in need
of such protection.
3. The effective recognition
of the right of collective
bargaining, the
cooperation of
management and labour
in the continuous
improvement of
productive efficiency and
the collaboration of
workers and employers
in the preparation and
application of social and
economic measures.
4. The extension of social
security measures to
provide a basic income to
all in need of such
protection
12.2 ILO Core Conventions
12.3 Ratification Generally
Needed; Exception
Article 3. DECLARATION OF BASIC
POLICY
The State shall afford protection to
labor, promote full employment,
ensure work opportunities
regardless of sex, race or creed, and
regulate the relations between
workers and employers. The State
shall assure the rights of workers to
self-organization, collective
bargaining, security of tenure and
just and humane conditions of
work.
1. LABOR LAWS AND SOCIAL
ECONOMIC GOALS
 - The issues mentioned in this
article – employment, protection
to labor, labor-management
relations – are social issues.
- Art. 3 is not a statement of goals
but a statement of policy
directions towards the goals.
- The goals of the national
economy, says the Constitution
are a more equitable distribution
of opportunities, income and
wealth; a sustained increase in
the amount of goods and
services produced by the nation
for the benefit of the people.
2. INTERDEPENDENCE
- The basic policy is to balance or
to coordinate the rights and
interests of both workers and
employers. Article 3 of the Code,
written in the early 1970’s
should be viewed in the
perspective of the 1987
Constitution which already stated,
explicitly recognizes shared responsibility of
employers and workers and the right of
enterprise to reasonable returns on
investment and to expansion and growth.
Article 4. CONSTRUCTION IN FAVOR OF
LABOR
All doubts in the implementation and
interpretation of the provisions of this
Code, including its implementing rules
and regulations, shall be resolved in favor
of labor.
1. INTERPRETATION AND
CONSTRUCTION
1.1 Laborer’s Welfare; Liberal
Approach
- The Supreme Court adopts the
liberal approach which favors
the exercise of labor rights.
1.2 Concern for Lowly Worker
- The SC reaffirms its
concern for the lowly worker who,
often at this employer’s mercy, must
look up to the law for his protection.
That law regards him with
tenderness and even favor and
always with faith and hope in his
capacity to help in shaping the
nation’s future.
1.3 Reason for According Greater
Protection to Employees
- In the matter of
employment bargaining, there is no
doubt that the employer stands on
higher footing that the employee.
- First of all, there is greater supply
than demand for labor. Secondly,
the need for employment by labor
comes from vital and even
desperate necessity.
1.4 Justice, the Intention of the Law
- the right to obtain justice is
enjoyed by all members of society,
rich or poor, worker or manager,
alien or citizen. Justice belongs to
everyone.
2. MANAGEMENT RIGHTS, BROADLY
-Management also has its own rights
which are entitled to respect and
enforcement in the interest of
simple fair play.
- the Sec. of Labor is duly mandated
to equally protect and respect not
only the laborer or worker’s side but
also the management and/or
employer’s side.
-the law in protecting the rights of
the laborer, authorizes neither
oppression nor self-destruction of
the employer. Management
prerogatives, however, are subject
to limitations provided by law,
contract or collective bargaining
agreements and general principles
of fair play and justice.
MANAGEMENT RIGHTS
2.1 Right to ROI
2.2 Right to Prescribe Rules
 2.3 Right to Select Employees
2.4 Right to Transfer or Discharge
Employees
ART. 5 RULES AND REGULATIONS The
Department of Labor and Employment and
other government agencies charged with
the administration and enforcement of this
Code or any of its parts shall promulgate
the necessary implementing rules and
regulations. Such rules and regulations
shall become effective fifteen (15) days
after announcement of their adoption in
newspapers of general circulation.
1. RULES AND REGULATIONS TO
IMPLEMENT THE CODE
- the Department of Labor and
Employment shall make rules
and regulations to implement
the Code.
- It has been ruled that
administrative regulations and
policies enacted by
administrative bodies to
interpret the law which they are
entrusted to enforce have the
force of law, and are entitled to
great respect.
- Thus, Department Order No. 1,
Series of 1988, of the
Department of Labor and
Employment providing for
“Guidelines Governing the
Temporary Suspension of
Employment of Filipino Domestic
and Household Workers,” does
not constitute an invalid exercise
of legislative power.
- It is true that police power is the
domain of legislature, but it does
not mean that such an authority
may not be lawfully delegated.
The Labor Code itself in Article 5
vests the Department of Labor
and Employment with rule-
making powers in the
enforcement thereof.
1.1 When Invalid
- A rule or regulation promulgated
by an administrative body, such as
the Department of Labor, to
implement a law, in excess of its
rule-making authority, is void.
- By disentitling the monthly
employees, the Labor Secretary
exceeded his rule-making
authority. An administrative
interpretation which takes away a
benefit granted in the law is ultra
vires, that is, beyond one’s power.
ART. 6. APPLICABILITY
All rights and benefits granted to
workers this Code shall, except as
may otherwise be provided herein,
apply alike to all workers, whether
agricultural or non-agricultural.
1. APPLICABILITY TO GOVERNMENT
CORPORATIONS
-The ruling now is that the Labor
Code applies to a government
corporation incorporated under the
Corporation Code
- “The Civil Service embraces all
branches, subdivisions,
instrumentalities and agencies of
the Government, including
government-owned or
controlled corporations with
original charters.”
- The government-owned and
controlled corporations “with
original charter” refer to
corporations chartered by
special law from Congress as
distinguished from corporations
organized under our general
incorporation statute, the
Corporation Code.
- Thus, under the present state of
the law, the test in determining
whether a government-owned
or controlled corporation is
subject to the Civil Service Law is
the manner of its creation.
- Government corporations created
by Congress are subject to Civil
iService rules, while those
incorporated under the general
Corporation Law are covered by the
Labor Code
1.1 PNOC-EDC, FTI, NHA
 - The PNOC-EDC, (Philippine National
Oil Corp. Energy Development
Corp.) having been incorporated
under the general Corporation Law,
is a government-owned or
controlled corporation. Its
employees are subject to the
provisions of the Labor Code,
among which are those on the
rights to unionize and to strike.
- Similarly, the Food Terminal, Inc. is
a government-owned and
controlled corporation without
original charter. The Department of
Labor and Employment, and not the
Civil Service Commission has
jurisdiction over the dispute arising
from employment with FTI. The
terms and conditions of such
employment are governed by the
Labor Code and not by the Civil
Service Rules and Regulations.
- Finally, considering that the NHA
(National Housing Corp.) was
incorporated under Act 1459, the
former corporation law, it is a
government owned or controlled
corporation whose employees are
subject to the provisions of the
Labor Code. The NHA is within the
jurisdiction of the Department of
Labor and Employment, it being a
government-owned and/or
controlled corporation without an
original charter. The workers or
employees of the NHC (now NHA)
have the right to form unions or
employees’ organizations.
2. NON-APPLICABILITY TO GOVERNMENT
AGENCIES
-the National Parks Development
Committee is an agency of the
government, not a government-owned
or -controlled corporation. Its
employees are covered by civil service
rules and regulations, since they are
civil service employees. While the
National Parks Development
Committee employees are allowed
under the 1987 Constitution to organize
and join unions of their choice, there is
no law permitting them to strike.
- In case of a labor dispute between the
employees and the government,
Section 15 of E.O. No. 180, dated June
1, 1987 provides that the Public Sector
Labor-Management Council, not the
Department of Labor and Employment,
shall hear the dispute.
-Similarly, employees of the Social
Security System (SSS) are civil service
employees. When they went on strike,
the Regional Trial Court, not the
National Labor Relations Commission,
had jurisdiction to hear the petition to
enjoin the strike. And, again, E.O. No.
180 applies, not the Labor Code.
- Note: Notwithstanding the above
rulings, it should be noted that the
Labor Code provisions on the State
Insurance Fund (Article 172, et seq.) do
apply to government personnel covered
by the GSIS.
3. APPLICABILITY WITHOUT
EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP
- The Labor Code may apply even if the
parties are not employers and
employees of each other.
- When one speaks of employment
benefits (e.g., overtime pay or rest day
premium) or of unionization, then
surely employment relationship is an
essential element.
-But when the issue, for instance, is an
indirect employer’s liability, or illegal
recruitment, or misuse of POEA license,
there is no employer-employee
relationship between the complainant
and the respondent, and yet the
pertinent Labor Code provisions may be
invoked.
- In short, the Labor Code applies with
or without employment relationship
between the disputants, depending on
the kind of issue involved.
Chapter II EMANCIPATION OF TENANTS
ART. 7. STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES
Inasmuch as the old concept of land
ownership by a few has spawned valid
and legitimate grievances that gave
rise to violent conflict and social
tension and the redress of such
legitimate grievances being one of the
fundamental objectives of the New
Society, it has become imperative to
start reformation with the
emancipation of the tiller of the soil
from his bondage.
ART. 8. TRANSFER OF LANDS TO
TENANT-WORKERS
Being a valid part of the labor force,
tenant-farmers on private agricultural
lands primarily devoted to rice and
corn under a system of share crop or
lease tenancy whether classified as
landed estate or not shall be deemed
owner of a portion constituting a
family-size farm of five (5) hectares if
not irrigated and three (3) hectares if
irrigated. In all cases, the landowners
may retain an area of not more than
seven (7) hectares if such landowner is
cultivating such area or will now
cultivate it.
Decree No. 27 shall be actually issued
to him unless and until he has become
a full-fledged member of a duly
recognized farmers’ cooperative. Title
to the land acquired pursuant to
Presidential Decree No. 27 or the Land
Reform Program of the Government
shall not be transferable except by
hereditary succession or to the
Government in accordance with the
provisions of Presidential Decree No.
27, the Code of Agrarian Reforms and
other existing laws and regulations.
ART. 11. IMPLEMENTING AGENCY
The Department of Agrarian Reform
shall promulgate the necessary rules
and regulations to implement the
provisions of this Chapter.
- The Labor Code touches agrarian
reform inadequately in five articles
only because it is a subject
governed principally by R.A. No.
6657 (Comprehensive Agrarian
Reform Law of 1988).

ART. 9. DETERMINATION OF LAND

VALUE

For the purpose of determining the

cost of the land to be transferred to
the tenant-farmer, the value of the
land shall be equivalent to two and
one-half (2-1/2) times the average
harvest of three (3) normal crop years
immediately preceding the
promulgation of Presidential Decree
No. 27 on October 21, 1972.

The total cost of the land, including

interest at the rate of six percent (6%)
per annum, shall be paid by the tenant
in fifteen (15) years of fifteen (15)
equal annual amortizations. In case of
default, the amortizations due shall be
paid by the farmers’ cooperative in
which the defaulting tenant-farmer is a
member, with the cooperative having
a right of recourse against him. The
government shall guarantee such
amortizations with shares of stock in
government-owned and government- BOOK ONE PRE-EMPLOYMENT
controlled corporations.
ART. 12. STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES
ART. 10. CONDITIONS OF OWNERSHIP
It is the policy of the State:
No title to the land acquired by the
tenant-farmer under Presidential
 (a) To promote and maintain a state of full
employment through improved manpower
training, allocation and utilization;
(b) To protect every citizen desiring to work
locally or overseas by securing for him the best
possible terms and condition of employment;
(c) To facilitate a free choice of available
employment by persons seeking work in
conformity with the national interest;
(d) To facilitate and regulate the movement of
workers in conformity with the national
interest;
(e) To regulate the employment of aliens,
including the establishment of a registration
and/or work permit system;
(f) To strengthen the network of public
employment offices and rationalize the
participation of the private sector in the
recruitment and placement of workers, locally
and overseas, to serve national development
objectives;
(g) To insure careful selection of Filipino
workers for overseas employment in order to
protect the good name of the Philippines
abroad.
1. THE UNEMPLOYMENT PROBLEM
- The unemployment problem is exacerbated by
population growth that appears unchecked. The
intercensal population growth rate which was
2.32% in 1990-1995 escalated to 2.36% in 1995-
2000.
2. THE DOLE: ITS RESPONSIBILITY
-But since there has to be a lead agency, the
Administrative Code of 1987 (Executive Order
No. 292) names the Department of Labor and
Employment as “the primary policy-making,
programming, coordinating, and administrative
entity of the Executive Branch of the
government in the field of labor and
employment.” The Administrative Code
mandates DOLE to assume “primary
responsibility” for:
a) The promotion of gainful employment
opportunities and the optimization of the
development and utilization of the country’s
manpower resources;
b) The advancement of worker’s welfare by
providing for just and humane working
conditions and terms of employment;
c) The maintenance of industrial peace by
promoting harmonious, equitable and stable
employment relations that assure protection
for the rights of all concerned parties.
Title I RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT OF
WORKERS
Chapter I GENERAL PROVISIONS
ART. 13. DEFINITIONS
(a) “Worker” means any member of the labor
force, whether employed or unemployed.
(b) “Recruitment and placement” refers to any
act of canvassing, enlisting, contracting,
transporting, utilizing, hiring or procuring
workers, and includes referrals, contract
services, promising or advertising for
employment, locally or abroad, whether for
profit or not: Provided, That any person or
entity which, in any manner, offers or
promises for a fee employment to two or more
persons shall be deemed engaged in
recruitment and placement.
(c) “Private fee-charging employment agency”
means any person or entity engaged in the
recruitment and placement of workers for a
fee which is charged, directly or indirectly,
from the workers or employers or both.
(d) “License” means a document issued by the
Department of Labor authorizing a person or
entity to operate a private employment
agency.
(e) “Private recruitment entity” means any
person or association engaged in the
recruitment and placement of workers, locally
or overseas, without charging, directly or
indirectly, any fee from the workers or
employers.
(f) “Authority” means a document issued by
the Department of Labor authorizing a person
or association to engage in recruitment and
placement activities as a private recruitment
entity. (
g) “Seaman” means any person employed in a
vessel engaged in maritime navigation.
(h) “Overseas employment” means
employment of a worker outside the
Philippines.
(i) “Emigrant” means any person, worker or
otherwise, who emigrates to a foreign country
by virtue of an immigrant visa or resident
permit or its equivalent in the country of down a rule of evidence that where
destination. a fee is collected in consideration of
a pttromise or offer of employment
ARTICLE 13(b) CONSTRUED; WHAT to two or more prospective
CONSTITUTES RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT workers, the individual or entity
dealing with them shall be deemed
- The definition of “Recruitment and
to be engaged in the act of
placement” in Article 13(b) is
recruitment and placement. The
interpreted by the Court in People
words ‘shall be deemed’ create that
vs. Panis
presumption.”
People vs. Panis, 142 SCRA 664
- The Court laid down the rule in
(1986) —
People vs. Goce, that to prove that
the accused was engaged in
Facts: Four separate criminal
recruitment activities, it must be
complaints were filed against Abug
shown that the accused gave the
for operating a fee-charging
complainant the distinct impression
employment agency without first
that she had the power or ability to
securing a license. But Abug argued
send the complainant abroad for
that the complaints did not charge
work, such that the latter was
an offense as he was charged with
convinced to part with her money
illegally recruiting only one person
in order to be so employed. Where
in each of the four informations.
such act or representation is not
Abug claimed that under Article
proven, there is no recruitment
13(b) there would be illegal
activity and conviction for illegal
recruitment only when two or more
recruitment has no basis.
persons in any manner were
promised or offered any
- Thus, in Darvin vs. C.A. and People
employment for a fee.
of the Philippines, the Court noted
the lack of evidence to prove that
Ruling: The Court ruled that the
the accused offered a job to
number of persons is not an
complainant-respondent. It was
essential ingredient of the act of
established, instead, that the
recruitment and placement of
complainant gave P150,000.00 to
workers. — “As we see it, the
the accused-appellant for payment
proviso was intended neither to
of air fare and US visa and other
impose a condition on the basic rule
expenses. The receipt for the
nor to provide an exception thereto
P150,000.00 stated that it was “for
but merely to create a
Air Fare and visa to USA.” The Court
presumption. The presumption is
through Justice Romero concluded:
that the individual or entity is
“By themselves, procuring a
engaged in recruitment and
passport, airline tickets and foreign
placement whenever he or it is
visa for another individual, without
dealing with two or more persons
more, can hardly qualify as
to whom, in consideration of a fee,
recruitment activities.”
an offer or promise of employment
is made in the course of the
“canvassing, enlisting, contracting, ART. 14. EMPLOYMENT PROMOTION
transporting, utilizing, hiring or
procuring (of) workers.” The The Secretary of Labor shall have the power
number of persons dealt with is not and authority:
an essential ingredient of the act of
recruitment and placement of (a) To organize and establish new employment
workers. Any of the acts offices in addition to the existing employment
mentioned in the basic rule in offices under the Department of Labor as the
Article 13(b) will constitute need arises;
recruitment and placement even if
b) To organize and establish a nationwide job
only one prospective worker is
clearance and information system to inform
involved. The proviso merely lays
applicants registering with a particular
employment office of job opportunities in
other parts of the country as well as job
opportunities abroad;
(c) To develop and organize a program that will
facilitate occupational, industrial and
geographical mobility of labor and provide
assistance in the relocation of workers from
one area to another; and
(d) To require any person, establishment,
organization or institution to submit such
employment information as may be prescribed
by the Secretary of Labor.
EMPLOYMENT PROMOTION
- To pursue its responsibility to
promote employment
opportunities, the DOLE carries out
programs for local and overseas
employment. Effective allocation of
manpower resources in local
employment is assigned to the BLE
(Bureau of Local Employment) and
to POEA (Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration) for
overseas employment.
ART. 15. BUREAU OF EMPLOYMENT SERVICES
(a) The Bureau of Employment Services shall
be primarily responsible for developing and
monitoring a comprehensive employment
program. It shall have the power and duty:
1. To formulate and develop plans and
programs to implement the employment
promotion objectives of this Title;
2. To establish and maintain a registration
and/or licensing system to regulate private
sector participation in the recruitment and
placement of workers, locally and overseas,
and to secure the best possible terms and
conditions of employment for Filipino contract
workers and compliance therewith under such
rules and regulations as may be issued by the
Department of Labor and Employment;
3. To formulate and develop employment
programs designed to benefit disadvantaged
groups and communities;
4. To establish and maintain a registration
and/or work permit system to regulate the
employment of aliens;
5. To develop a labor market information
system in aid of proper manpower and
development planning;
6. To develop a responsible vocational
guidance and testing system in aid of proper
human resources allocation; and
7. To maintain a central registry of skills,
except seamen.
1. LOCAL EMPLOYMENT
- Article 15 requires the Department of
Labor and Employment to promote
employment opportunities. This crucial
task was given by P.D. No. 850
(December 16, 1975) to the Bureau of
Employment Services which has been
replaced by the Bureau of Local
Employment (BLE) through E.O. No. 797
(May 1, 1982)
- The same Executive Order created the
Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration which consolidated the
overseas employment functions of the
BES as well as those of the Overseas
Employment Development Board
(OEDB) under Article 17 and the
National Seamen Board (NSB) under
Article 20. In the meantime, through
Administrative Order No. 186
(September 4, 1987), the Secretary of
Labor and Employment devolved to the
DOLE regional offices the line functions
of the BLE. The regional offices
therefore now handles the licensing of
local recruitment agencies and the
issuance of work permits to non-
resident aliens and of employment
registration certificates to resident
aliens. The Bureau of Local Employment
has issued the Rules and Regulations
Governing Local Employment, which is
reproduced in Book I of the
Implementing Rules in this volume.
1.1 PRPA
- An agency that recruits
applicants for local employment
- The BLE Rules define PRPA as
any individual, partnership,
corporation or entity engaged
in the recruitment and
placement of persons for local
employment.
-A PRPA secures a license from
a DOLE regional office. It is
nontransferable to other
persons or entities but valid
nationwide for two years and
 renewable. Prior to the
approval of license, an
applicant for license to operate
a private employment agency
for local employment shall post
cash bond and surety bond.
- These bonds are valid for two
(2) years and will answer for all
valid and legal claims arising
from the illegal use of the
license and shall likewise
guarantee compliance with the
provisions of the Labor Code
and its Implementing Rules.
- Under existing BLE
regulations, a licensed PRPA
may charge a worker placement
fee which shall not exceed
twenty percent (20%) of the
worker’s first month’s basic
salary, chargeable after actual
commencement of
employment.
- Note should be taken,
however, of the new
Kasambahay Law (R.A. No.
10361, approved on January 18,
2013) whose Section 13 states:
Regardless of whether the
domestic worker was hired
through a private employment
agency or a third party, no
share in the recruitment or
finder’s fee shall be charged
against the domestic worker by
the said private employment
agency or third party.
1.2 Service Fee Chargeable to Employer
- A licensed private recruitment
and placement agency may charge the
employer service fee which shall not
exceed twenty percent (20%) of the
annual salary of the worker.
- In no case shall the service fee be
deducted from the worker’s salary.
Transportation expenses of the worker
from the place of origin to the place of
work shall be charged against the
employer and shall in no case be
deducted from the worker’s salary.
1.3 The PESO
- A significant development in
the promotion of local employment is
the approval of R.A. No. 8759 on
February 4, 2000.
- It requires the establishment of
a public employment service office
(PESO) in capital towns, cities and other
strategic areas.
- A PESO is intended to serve as
employment service and information
center in its area of operation. It
regularly obtains lists of job vacancies
from employers, publicizes them,
invites and evaluates applicants, and
refers them for probable hiring. It also
provides training and educational
guidance and employment counseling
services.
-The WHIP is a program pursuant to
R.A. No. 6885 which requires the
Department of Public Works and
Highways and private contractors to
hire 30 percent of skilled and 50
percent unskilled labor requirements
from the area where the project is
being undertaken.
ART. 16. PRIVATE RECRUITMENT Except as
provided in Chapter II of this Title, no person
or entity, other than the public employment
offices, shall engage in the recruitment and
placement of workers.
AUTHORIZED ENTITIES
- Although this Article says that only
public employment offices shall
engage in recruitment and
placement of workers, Article 25
provides a broad exception as it
states that “the private
employment sector shall participate
in the recruitment and placement
of workers, locally and overseas.”
- -And while Article 18 generally
prohibits direct hiring for overseas
employment, it also recognizes a
number of exceptions.
- Summing up, based on the Rules
Implementing the Code, the
following entities are authorized to
recruit and place workers for local
or overseas employment:
a. public employment offices
 b. private recruitment entities
c. private employment agencies
d. shipping or manning agents or
representatives
e. the POEA
f. construction contractors if
authorized to operate by DOLE
and the Construction Industry
Authority
g. members of the diplomatic corps
although hirings done by them
have to be processed through
the POEA
h. other persons or entities as may
be authorized by the DOLE
secretary
ART. 17. OVERSEAS EMPLOYMENT
DEVELOPMENT BOARD
An Overseas Employment Development Board
is hereby created to undertake, in cooperation
with relevant entities and agencies, a
systematic program for overseas employment
of Filipino workers in excess of domestic needs
and to protect their rights to fair and equitable
employment practices. It shall have the power
and duty:
1. To promote the overseas employment of
Filipino workers through a comprehensive
market promotion and development program;
2. To secure the best possible terms and
conditions of employment of Filipino contract
workers on a government-to-government basis
and to ensure compliance therewith;
3. To recruit and place workers for overseas
employment on a government-to-government
arrangement and in such other sectors as
policy may dictate; and
4. To act as secretariat for the Board of
Trustees of the Welfare and Training Fund for
Overseas Workers.
1. OVERSEAS EMPLOYMENT, A BRIEF HISTORY
-Labor migration in the Philippines began in the
1900s
2. LEGISLATIVE BACKGROUND OF OVERSEAS
EMPLOYMENT
- Act No. 2486 was the first law passed by the
Philippine Legislature in 1915 related to
overseas employment. This law provided for
license issuance and license fee and welfare
regulations, such as prohibiting minors
(under 15 years) to work abroad without the
parent’s written consent, prohibiting
recruitment of non-Christians for exhibition
or display and provision of transportation for
returning workers who are physically unfit or
have finished serving the contract. This
became the basis of the government’s policy
on overseas employment from 1915 up to
the advent of the Labor Code in 1975.
-P.D. No. 442 (the Labor Code) The Overseas
Employment Development Board (OEDB)
and the National Seamen Board (NSB) were
created to implement a more systematic
deployment of land-based and sea-based
workers to other countries. P.D. No. 442
initially aimed at giving the government
complete control of the overseas
employment program.
- Under P.D. No. 1412, to cope with the
great demand for workers in the Middle
East, the government had to revive private
sector participation in the recruitment and
placement of Filipino workers. The
government’s recruitment role was thus
limited to government-to-government
arrangements.
- E.O. No. 797 was passed in 1982 aimed at
streamlining operations in the overseas
employment program. The OEDB, NSB, and
the overseas employment program of the
Bureau of Employment Services were united
in a single structure — the Philippine
Overseas Employment Administration
(POEA).
- E.O. No. 247, also known as the
Reorganization Act of POEA, was passed in
1987 (after the EDSA revolt) in response to
the government’s call for a more efficient
delivery of public service. One of the more
important provisions of this Order is the
strengthening of the worker’s protection and
welfare and a tighter regulation of the
private sector’s recruitment activities.
-E.O. No. 247, also known as the
Reorganization Act of POEA, was passed in
1987 (after the EDSA revolt) in response to
the government’s call for a more efficient
delivery of public service. One of the more
important provisions of this Order is the
strengthening of the worker’s protection and
welfare and a tighter regulation of the
private sector’s recruitment activities.
-R.A. No. 10022, which lapsed into law on
March 8, 2010, further improves the
standard of protection and promotion of
welfare provided under R.A. No. 8042.
3. OVERSEAS EMPLOYMENT POLICY
3.1 Policies on Migrant Workers
- The “Migrant Workers and Overseas
Filipinos Act of 1995” (R.A. No. 8042)
was passed during the Ramos
Administration.
- R.A. No. 8042 as amended by R.A. No.
10022 states the policies on overseas
Filipinos and migrant workers in
particular.
Summarized, they are as follows:
(a) The State shall, at all times, uphold
the dignity of its citizens whether in
country or overseas, in general, and
Filipino migrant workers, in particular,
and endeavor to enter into bilateral
agreements with countries hosting
overseas Filipino workers.
(b) The State shall afford full protection
to labor, local and overseas, organized
and unorganized, and promote full
employment and equality of
employment opportunities for all.
(c) While recognizing the significant
contributions of Filipino migrant
workers to the national economy
through their foreign exchange
remittances, the State does not
promote overseas employment as a
means to sustain economic growth and
achieve national development. The
State, therefore, shall continuously
create local employment opportunities
and promote the equitable distribution
of wealth and the benefits of
development.
(d) The State affirms the fundamental
equality before the law of women and
men and the significant role of women
in nation-building. The State shall apply
gender-sensitive criteria in the
formulation and implementation of
policies and programs.
(e) Free access to the courts and quasi-
judicial bodies and adequate legal
assistance shall not be denied to any
person by reason of poverty. The rights
and interest of distressed overseas
Filipinos, in general, and Filipino
migrant workers, in particular, whether
regular/documented or
irregular/undocumented, shall be
adequately protected and safeguarded.
(f) Filipino migrant workers and all
overseas Filipinos have the right to
participate in the democratic decision-
making processes of the State and to be
represented in institutions relevant to
overseas employment.
(g) The State recognizes that the most
effective tool for empowerment is the
possession of skills by migrant workers.
The government shall provide them
free and accessible skills development
and enhancement programs. The
government shall deploy and/or allow
the deployment only of skilled Filipino
workers. (As amended by R.A. No.
10022)
(h) The State recognizes [that] non-
governmental organizations, trade
unions, workers associations,
recruitment and manning agencies and
similar entities duly recognized as
legitimate, are partners of the State in
the protection of Filipino migrant
workers and in the promotion of their
welfare.
(i) Government fees and other
administrative costs of recruitment,
introduction, placement and assistance
to migrant workers shall be rendered
free without prejudice to the provision
of Section 36 of R.A. No. 8042.
- the deployment of Filipino overseas
workers, whether landbased or sea-
based, by local service contractors and
manning agencies employing them shall
be encouraged. Appropriate incentives
may be extended to them.
- It is important to note that under
paragraph (e) above even
undocumented or “irregular” overseas
Filipinos, migrant workers in particular,
are entitled to legal assistance and
adequate protection
3.2 OFWs: Land-based or Sea-based
- OFW’s are classified by DOLE as either
land-based or seabased.
- Sea-Based OFW’s (or seamen) are
those employed in a vessel engaged in
maritime navigation. Sea-based work
pertains to ship operations like
navigation, engineering, maintenance,
including a variety of occupations from
kitchen staff to on-board entertainment
in large vessel ships.
-Land-Based OFW’s are contract
workers other than a seaman including
workers engaged in offshore activities
whose occupation requires that
majority of his working/ gainful hours
are spent on land.
3.3 Selective Deployment
- For this purpose, the government
recognizes any of the following as a
guarantee of the receiving country for
the protection of overseas Filipino
workers:
(a) It has existing labor and social laws
protecting the rights of workers,
including migrant workers; (b) It is a
signatory to and/or a ratifier of
multilateral conventions, declarations
or resolutions relating to the protection
of workers, including migrant workers;
and
(c) It has concluded a bilateral
agreement or arrangement with the
government on the protection of the
rights of overseas Filipino Workers:
Provided, That the receiving country is
taking positive, concrete measures to
protect the rights of migrant workers in
furtherance of any of the guarantees
under subparagraphs (a), (b) and (c)
hereof.
- In the absence of a clear showing
that any of the aforementioned
guarantees exists in the country of
destination of the migrant workers,
no permit for deployment shall be
issued by the Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration
(POEA).
- For this purpose, the Department of
Foreign Affairs, through its foreign
posts, shall issue a certification to
the POEA, specifying therein the
pertinent provisions of the
receiving country’s labor/social law,
or the
convention/declaration/resolution,
or the bilateral agreement/
arrangement which protect the
rights of migrant workers.
- The members of the POEA
Governing Board who actually
voted in favor of an order allowing
the deployment of migrant workers
without any of the aforementioned
guarantees shall suffer the
penalties of removal or dismissal
from service with disqualification to
hold any appointive public office for
five (5) years.
- Further, the government official or
employee responsible for the
issuance of the permit or for
allowing the deployment of migrant
workers in violation of this section
and in direct contravention of an
order by the POEA Governing Board
prohibiting deployment shall be
meted the same penalties in this
section.
- When public welfare so requires,
the POEA Governing Board, after
consultation with the Department
of Foreign Affairs, may, at any time,
terminate or impose a ban on the
deployment of migrant workers.
4. THE POEA; OVERVIEW OF ITS FUNCTIONS
AND POWERS
- As already noted, the Philippine
Overseas Employment
Administration has taken over the
functions of OEDB and the NSB.
- As already noted, the Philippine
Overseas Employment
Administration has taken over the
functions of OEDB and the NSB.
- The principal functions of the POEA
include the formulation,
implementation, and monitoring of
policies and programs on overseas
employment of Filipino workers.
- An additional function of POEA is
the deployment of Filipino workers
through government-to-
government hiring.
- POEA performs administrative,
regulatory and enforcement, as well
as limited adjudicatory functions.
5. REALIGNMENT OF POEA
JURISDICTION
Before the passage of R.A. No. 8042 in
1995, POEA had original and exclusive
jurisdiction to hear and decide the
following kinds of cases:
a. Recruitment Violation and Related
cases consisting of all preemployment
cases which are administrative in
character, involving or arising out of
recruitment laws, rules and regulations,
including money claims therefrom or
violations of the conditions for issuance
of license to recruit workers.
b. Employer-Employee Relations cases
consisting of all claims arising out of an
employer-employee relationship or by
virtue of any law or contract involving
Filipino workers in overseas
employment, such as but not limited to:
(1) violation of the terms and conditions
of employment;
(2) disputes relating to the
implementation and interpretation of
employment contracts;
(3) money claims of workers against
their employers and duly authorized
agents in the Philippines or vice versa;
(4) claims for death, disability and other
benefits arising out of employment; and
(5) violation/s of or noncompliance
with any compromise agreement
entered into by and between the
parties in an overseas employment
contract.
c. Disciplinary Action cases consisting of
all complaints against a contract worker
for breach of discipline. The disciplinary
action may take the form of warning,
repatriation, suspension, or
disqualification from the overseas
employment program, or inclusion in
the POEA blacklist.
5.1 Modification: Employer-Employee
Relations Cases: Transferred to NLRC
- The allocation of jurisdiction
enumerated above has been
significantly modified by R.A. No.
8042 (“Migrant Workers and
Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995”).
- This law has transferred to the
NLRC the jurisdiction over employer
employee relations cases. Among
the cases now in the hands of labor
arbiters are money claims arising
from pretermination of the
employment contract without valid
cause.
- In such a case, Sec. 10 of R.A. No.
8042 entitles the OFW to
“reimbursement of his placement
fee with interest plus his salary for
either (1) the unexpired portion of
the employment contract or (2) for
three months for every year of the
unexpired term, whichever is less.
6. JURISDICTION RETAINED WITH POEA
After the passage of R.A. No. 8042, the
POEA retains original and exclusive
jurisdiction to hear and decide:
(a) all cases which are administrative in
character, involving or arising out of
violations of rules and regulations
relating to licensing and registration of
recruitment and employment agencies
or entities; and
(b) disciplinary action cases and other
special cases which are administrative
in character, involving employers,
principals, contracting partners and
Filipino migrant workers.
6.1 POEA Jurisdiction over Administrative or
Regulatory Cases
- POEA retains the power to regulate
the private sector participation in the
recruitment and overseas placement of
workers through its licensing and
registration system.
6.2 POA Jurisdiction over Disciplinary Cases
- Rule VII of Book VII of the POEA Rules
provides that complaints for breach of
discipline against a contract worker
shall be filed with the Adjudication
Office or Regional Office of the POEA, as
the case may be.
-The POEA may motu proprio undertake
disciplinary action against a worker for
breach of discipline. It shall establish a
 system of watching and blacklisting of
overseas contract workers.
Secs. 6 and 7, Rule VII, Book VII of the
POEA Rules and Regulations (1991)
provide: “Sec. 6. Disqualification of
Contract Workers. Contract workers,
including seamen, against whom have
been imposed or with pending
obligations imposed upon them
through an order, decision, or
resolution shall be included in the POEA
Blacklist Workers shall be disqualified
from overseas employment unless
properly cleared by Administrator or
until their suspension is served or lifted.
Sec. 7. Delisting of the Contract
Worker’s Name from the POEA
Watchlist.
The name of an overseas worker may
be excluded, deleted and removed from
the POEA Watchlist only after
disposition of the case by the
Administration.”
6.3 Grounds for Disciplinary Action
Commission by the worker of any of the
offenses enumerated below or of
similar offenses while working overseas
shall be subject to appropriate
disciplinary actions as the POEA may
deem necessary:
a. Commission of a felony punishable by
Philippine laws or by the laws of the
host country;
b. Drug addiction or possession or
trafficking of prohibited drugs;
c. Desertion or abandonment;
d. Drunkenness, especially where the
laws of the host country prohibit
intoxicating drinks;
e. Gambling, especially where the laws
of the host country prohibit the same;
f. Initiating or joining a strike or work
stoppage where the laws of the host
country prohibit strikes or similar
actions; g. Creating trouble at the
worksite or in the vessel;
h. Embezzlement of company funds or
of moneys and properties of a fellow
worker entrusted for delivery to kins or
relatives in the Philippines;
i. Theft or robbery;
j. Prostitution;
k. Vandalism or destroying company
property;
l. Gunrunning or possession of deadly
weapons;
m. Unjust refusal to depart for the
worksite after all employment and
travel documents have been duly
approved by the appropriate
government agency/ies; and
n. Violation/s of the laws and sacred
practices of the host country and
unjustified breach of government-
approved employment contract by a
worker.
6.4 To Whom Appealable
- POEA decisions on cases within its
jurisdiction are appealable not to the
NLRC nor directly to the Court of
Appeals but to the Secretary of Labor.
- The Secretary shall have the exclusive
and original jurisdiction to act on
appeals or petition for review of
disciplinary action cases decided by the
Administration [POEA].”
-The Secretary’s appellate jurisdiction is
part of its power of supervision and
control recognized in the Revised
Administrative Code of 1987.
7. OUTSIDE OF POEA JURISDICTION
7.1 No Jurisdiction to Enforce Foreign
Judgment
-POEA has no jurisdiction to hear and
decide a claim for enforcement of a
foreign judgment. Such a claim must be
brought before the regular courts.
-The POEA is not a court, it is an
administrative agency, exercising, inter
alia, adjudicatory or quasi-judicial
functions. Neither the rules of
procedure nor the rules of evidence
which are mandatorily applicable in
proceedings before courts, are
observed in proceedings before the
POEA
7.2 No Jurisdiction Over Torts
Mckenzie, et al. vs. Cui, G.R. No. 48831,
February 6, 1989 —
Facts: Aguedo, a licensed seaman, filed
with the Regional Trial Court a
complaint for recovery of certain sums
of money, with damages against
Kenneth and Kraamer as Administrative
Manager and master of M.V. Carbay,
and its operator Wallem Philippines,
pursuant to Article 2180 of the Civil
Code. He alleged that while M.V. Carbay
was dry-docked in Japan, he was
attacked by his co-worker, an alleged
protege of Kraamer; that without
investigation, Kraamer summarily
dismissed him without paying his salary
and thereafter compelled him to return
to Manila, incurring expenses in the
amount of $320. Defendants moved to
dismiss for lack of jurisdiction and
alleged that the National Seamen’s
Board (POEA now) has the exclusive
jurisdiction over cases in connection
with the employment of Filipino
seamen on board vessels engaged in
overseas trade. The trial judge denied
the motion.
Ruling: The Supreme Court affirmed the
order of the trial court, that is, the court
(not POEA) has jurisdiction over the
case. Aguedo’s complaint reveals his
intention to seek and claim protection
under the Civil Code and not under the
Labor Code. The items demanded are
not labor benefits such as wages,
overtime, or separation pay, but are
items claimed as natural consequences
of such dismissal. His complaint is
ART. 19. OFFICE OF EMIGRANT AFFAIRS
denominated as “damages” as a
consequence of his alleged summary
dismissal by Kraamer. Moreover, in his
opposition to the motion to dismiss, he
cites Articles 2197, 2200, 2219 and adds
the relevant articles on Human
Relations: Articles 19, 21, 24 and 32 of
the Civil Code to support his claim for
damages. [This kind of case is not within
POEA’s jurisdiction].
ART. 18. BAN ON DIRECT-HIRING
No employer may hire a Filipino
worker for overseas employment
except through the Boards and entities
authorized by the Department of Labor
and Employment. Direct-hiring by
members of the diplomatic corps,
international organizations and such
other employers as may be allowed by
the Department of Labor and
Employment is exempted from this
provision.
- Direct hiring of Filipino workers by a
foreign employer is not allowed
except direct hiring by members of
the diplomatic corps and others
mentioned in this Article.
- Also excepted are “name hirees” or
those individual workers who are
able to secure contracts for
overseas employment on their
own efforts and representation
without the assistance or
participation of any agency. Their
hiring, nonetheless, has to be
processed through the POEA. Name
hires should register with the POEA
by submitting the following
documents:
(a) Employment contract;
(b) Valid passport;
(c) Employment visa or work
permit, or equivalent
document;
(d) Certificate of medical fitness;
and
(e) Certificate of attendance to the
required employment
orientation/briefing.
(a) Pursuant to the national policy to
maintain close ties with Filipino migrant
communities and promote their welfare as
well as establish a data bank in aid of
national manpower policy formulation, an
Office of Emigrant Affairs is hereby created
in the Department of Labor. The Office shall
be a unit at the Office of the Secretary and
shall initially be manned, and operated by
such personnel and through such funding as
are available within the Department and its
attached agencies. Thereafter, its
appropriation shall be made part of the
regular General Appropriations Decree.
(b) The office shall, among others, promote
the well-being of emigrants and maintain
their close link to the homeland by:
1) serving as a liaison with migrant
communities;
2) providing welfare and cultural services;
3) promoting and facilitating re-
international of migrants into the national
mainstream;
4) promoting economic, political and
cultural ties with the communities; and
5) undertaking such activities as may be
appropriate to enhance such cooperative
links.
-The Office of Emigrant Affairs has been
abolished and its pertinent functions were
transferred to the Commission on Filipinos
Overseas by B.P. Blg. 79, approved on June
16, 1980.
-Among other functions, the CFO provides
advice and assistance to the President of
the Philippines and the Congress in the
formulation of policies and measures
affecting Filipinos overseas.
-It also formulates, in coordination with
agencies concerned, an integrated program
for the promotion of the welfare of Filipinos
overseas for implementation by suitable
existing agencies. Attached to the
Department of Foreign Affairs, the CFO has
five members appointed by the President,
one of whom is the Minister of Foreign
Affairs as ex-officio member. Other
ministers may be appointed as ex-officio
members. From among them, the President
designates the chairman and the vice-
chairman.
ART. 20. NATIONAL SEAMEN BOARD
(a) A National Seamen Board is hereby
created which shall develop and maintain
a comprehensive program for Filipino
seamen employed overseas. It shall have
the power and duty:
1. To provide free placement services
for seamen;
2. To regulate and supervise the
activities of agents or representatives
of shipping companies in the hiring of
seamen for overseas employment; and
secure the best possible terms of
employment for contract seamen
workers and secure compliance
therewith;
3. To maintain a complete registry of
all Filipino seamen.
(b) The Board shall have original and
exclusive jurisdiction over all matters or
cases including money claims, involving
employer-employee relations, arising out
of or by virtue of any law or contracts
involving Filipino seamen for overseas
employment. The decision of the Board
shall be appealable to the National Labor
Relations Commission upon the same
grounds provided in Article 223 hereof.
The decisions of the National Labor
Relations Commission shall be final and
unappealable.
1. NSB NOW POEA
-Executive Order No. 797 (issued on
May 1, 1982) abolished the National
Seamen Board and transferred its
functions to the POEA which the Order
created.
- The NSB’s “original and exclusive
jurisdiction” mentioned in paragraph
(b) of this Article has since been
exercised by the POEA.
- But, as already pointed out in
comments under Article 17, this
adjudicatory jurisdiction of the POEA
has been moved to the NLRC by R.A.
No. 8042 since 1995.
2. ARTICLE 20 CONSTRUED; SEAMEN’S
EMPLOYMENT CONTRACTS AND THE
INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT FEDERATION
(ITF)
-Article 20, no. 2, requires the National
Seamen Board (now POEA) to “secure
the best possible terms of employment
for contract seamen workers and
secure compliance therewith.” The
implications of this article are illustrated
in the following cases which also rule on
the question of immutability
(changeability) of seamen’s standard
contract.
-In the landmark case of Wallem
Shipping, Inc. vs. Ministry of Labor, 102
SCRA 835 [1981], some seamen who
were hired for ten months were
dismissed before the expiration of the
period. The employer defended the
dismissal by alleging that the seamen
had conspired with the International
Transport Federation (ITF) in coercing
 the ship authorities to pay the seamen
the worldwide rate, instead of the
lower Far East rate as provided in their
contracts of employment. It further
charged that the seamen threatened
the ship authorities that unless they
would agree to the increased wages,
the ship would not be able to leave
port; it would be picketed or boycotted
and declared a “hot” ship by the ITF.
The employer therefore claimed that
the dismissal of the seamen was
justified because the latter, in
threatening the ship authorities in
acceding to their demands, were guilty
of serious misconduct.
The Supreme Court ruled against the employer,
noting that the records failed to establish
clearly the commission of any threat. The Court
added:
“But even if there had been such a threat,
respondents’ (the seamen’s) behavior
should not be censured because it is but
natural for them to employ some means of
pressing their demands on the petitioner,
who refused to abide with the terms of the
Special Agreement, to honor and respect
the same. They were only acting in the
exercise of their rights, and to deprive them
of their freedom of expression is contrary to
law and public policy. There is no serious
misconduct to speak of in the case at bar
which would justify respondents’ dismissal
just because of their firmness in their
demand for the fulfillment by petitioner of
the obligation it entered into without any
coercion, especially on the part of private
respondents.” “On the other hand, it is the
petitioner [employer] who is guilty of
breach of contract when it dismissed the
respondents without just cause and prior to
the expiration of the employment
contracts. As the records clearly show,
petitioner voluntarily entered into the
Special Agreement with ITF and by virtue
thereof the crew men were actually given
their salary differentials in view of the new
rates. It cannot be said that it was because
of respondents’ fault that petitioner made a
sudden turnabout and refuse to honor the
Special Agreement.” (See also: Philgrecian
vs. NLRC, 139 SCRA 285 [1985].)
The Wallem ruling, penned by Justice De Castro,
was reiterated by Justice Gutierrez, Jr. in the
next case of Vir-Jen Shipping.
Vir-Jen Shipping and Marine Services vs. NLRC,
115 SCRA 347 (1982), 125 SCRA 577 (1983) —
Facts:
Certain seamen entered into a contract
of employment for a 12-month period.
Some three months after the
commencement of their employment,
the seamen demanded a 50% increase
of their salaries and benefits. The
seamen demanded this increase while
their vessel was en route to a port in
Australia controlled by the International
Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF)
where the ITF could detain the vessel
unless it paid its seamen the ITF rates.
The agent of the owner of the vessel
agreed to pay a 25% increase, but when
the vessel arrived in Japan shortly
afterwards, the seamen were
repatriated to Manila and their
contracts were terminated. The NSB
upheld the cancellation of the contracts
of employment of the seamen, but on
appeal the NLRC ruled that the
termination was illegal. Subsequently,
the Second Division of the Supreme
Court reversed the NLRC decision, that
is, the seamen’s dismissal was held
legal. The Division denied the two
motions for reconsideration but
another motion for reconsideration was
filed with the Supreme Court en banc
which gave it due course because there
was a need to reconcile the decision of
the Second Division with that of the
First Division in Wallem Shipping, Inc.
vs. Minister of Labor [see above], which
had ruled that the termination of the
seamen was illegal.
Ruling: Taking a position similar to that
of the First Division, the Supreme Court
en banc found the termination of the
seamen’s contract illegal. Through Mr.
Justice Gutierrez, the Court, in patriotic
language declared: The contention that
manning industries in the Philippines
would not survive if the instant case is
not decided in favor of the petitioner is
not supported by evidence. The Wallem
case was decided on February 20, 1981.
There have been no severe
repercussions, no drying up of
employment opportunities for seamen,
and none of the dire consequences
repeatedly emphasized by the
petitioner. Why should Vir-Jen be an
exception? Filipino seamen are
admittedly as competent and reliable as
seamen from any other country in the
world; otherwise, there would not be so
many of them in the vessels sailing in
every ocean and sea on this globe. It is
competence and reliability, not cheap
labor, that makes our seamen so greatly
in demand. Filipino seamen have never
demanded the same high salaries as
seamen from the United States, the
United Kingdom, Japan and other
developed nations. But certainly they
are entitled to government protection
when they ask for fair and decent
treatment by their employers and when
they exercise the right to petition for
improved terms of employment,
especially when they feel that these are
substandard or are capable of
improvement according to
internationally accepted rules.
Prescinding from the above, we now
hold that neither the National Seamen
Board nor the National Labor Relations
Commission should as a matter of
official policy, legitimize and enforce
dubious arrangements where
shipowners and seamen enter into
fictitious contracts similar to the
addendum agreements or side
contracts in this case whose purpose is
to deceive. The Republic of the
Philippines and its ministries and
agencies should present a more
honorable and proper posture in official
acts to the whole world,
notwithstanding our desire to have as
many job openings both here and
abroad for our workingmen, no less
than our dignity as a people and the
welfare of our workingmen must
proceed from the Batasang Pambansa
in the form of policy legislation, not
from administrative rule making or
adjudication. Another issue raised by
the movants is whether or not the
seamen violated their contracts of
employment. The form contracts
approved by the National Seamen
Board [now POEA] are designed to
protect Filipinos, not foreign
shipowners who can take care of
themselves. The standard forms
embody the basic minimums which
must be incorporated as parts of the
employment contract. They are not
collective bargaining agreements or
immutable contracts which the parties
cannot improve upon or modify in the
course of the agreed peril of time. To
state, therefore, that the affected
seamen cannot petition their employer
for higher salaries during the 12-month
duration of the contract runs counter to
established principles of labor
legislation. The National Labor Relations
Commission, as the appellate tribunal
from the decision of the National
Seamen Board, correctly ruled that the
seamen did not violate their contracts
to warrant their dismissal.
Suzara vs. Benipayo, G.R. No. 57999; Suzara vs.
National Labor Relations Commission, August
1, 1989 —
Facts:
A group of Filipino seamen entered into
separate contracts of employment with
Magsaysay Lines at specified salary
rates. When they arrived at Vancouver,
Canada, the seamen demanded and
received additional wages prescribed by
the International Transport Workers
Federation (ITF) in amounts over and
above the rates appearing in their
employment contract approved earlier
by the National Seamen Board. When
the vessel docked at Nagoya, an NSB
representative boarded the vessel. He
called a meeting among the seamen,
and urged them to sign an agreement,
which they did. It turned out that in the
agreement the following statement was
inserted: “the amounts were received
and held by crew members in trust for
shipowners.” When the vessel reached
Manila, Magsaysay Lines demanded
from the seamen the “overpayments”
made to them in Canada. When they
refused, it filed charges against them
before the NSB. NSB declared the
seamen guilty of breach of their
employment contracts and suspended
the seamen for three years, prompting
the workers to bring the case up to the
Supreme Court.
Ruling:
The Supreme Court reversed and set
aside the decisions of the NSB and the
NLRC. It held that the seamen were not
guilty of the offenses for which they
were charged and ordered Magsaysay
Lines to pay the seamen their earned
 but unpaid wages and overtime pay
according to the rates in the Special
Agreement that the parties entered into
in Vancouver. The criminal cases were
ordered dismissed. The Court reiterated
the Vir-Jen pronouncements.
3. INVALID SIDE AGREEMENT
An agreement that diminishes the
employee’s pay and benefits as
contained in a POEA-approved contract
is void, unless such subsequent
agreement is approved by POEA.
Chavez vs. Bonto-Perez, Rayala, et al., G.R. No.
109808, March 1, 1995 —
Facts:
Petitioner Chavez, hired as an
entertainment dancer in Japan, entered
into a standard employment contract
through a Philippine placement agency
for two (2) to six (6) months, at a
monthly compensation of US$1,500.00.
The POEA approved the contract.
Subsequently, however, petitioner
executed a side agreement with her
Japanese employer stipulating a
monthly salary of $750, and authorizing
the employer to deduct $250 as
commission of her manager. The salary
therefore became Five hundred dollars
($500) only. She returned to the
Philippines on June 14, 1989. On
February 21, 1991, she filed a
complaint, seeking payment of
US$6,000.00, representing the unpaid
portion of her basic salary for six
months. The POEA Administrator
dismissed the complaint, holding that
the agreement for a monthly salary of
$750 was valid. Moreover, the POEA
adjudged the complainant petitioner
guilty of laches or delay in filing her
complaint about two years after her
employment. On appeal, the NLRC
upheld the POEA’s decision. Chavez
petitioned for review.
Ruling: The Supreme Court, in a
decision penned by Mr. Justice Puno,
reversed those of the POEA and the
NLRC, and ruled: Firstly, we hold that
the managerial commission agreement
executed by petitioner [Chavez] to
authorize her Japanese employer to
deduct US$250.00 from her monthly
basic salary is void because it is against
our existing laws, morals and public
policy. It cannot supersede the standard
employment contract of December 1,
1988 approved by the POEA with the
following stipulation appended thereto:
“It is understood that the terms and
conditions stated in this Employment
Contract are in conformance with the
Standard Employment Contract for
Entertainers prescribed by the POEA
under Memorandum Circular No. 2,
Series of 1986. Any alterations or
changes made in any part of this
contract without prior approval by the
POEA shall be null and void.” (Emphasis
supplied.)
Clearly, the basic salary of US$1,500.00
guaranteed to petitioner under the
parties’ standard employment contract
is in accordance with the minimum
employment standards with respect to
wages set by the POEA. Thus, the side
agreement which reduced petitioner’s
basic wage to US$750.00 is null and
void for violating the POEA’s minimum
employment standards, and for not
having been approved by the POEA.
Secondly, the doctrine of laches or
“stale demands” cannot be applied to
petitioner.
4. DELAY IN FILING CLAIM
Laches
- is defined as the failure or neglect
for an unreasonable and
unexplained length of time to do
that which, by exercising due
diligence, could or should have
been done earlier, thus giving rise
to a presumption that the party
entitled to assert it either has
abandoned or declined to assert it.
It is not concerned with mere lapse
of time; the fact of delay, standing
alone, is insufficient to constitute
laches. Laches refers to deliberate
lack of interest or lack of action to
pursue a claim.
- The doctrine of laches is based
upon grounds of public policy which
requires, for the peace of society,
the discouragement of stale claims,
and is principally a question of the
inequity or unfairness of permitting
 a right or claim to be enforced or
asserted.
- The question of laches is addressed
to the sound discretion of the court,
and since it is an equitable doctrine,
its application is controlled by
equitable considerations. It cannot
be worked to defeat justice or to
perpetrate fraud and injustice.
- In the case of Esalyn Chavez, she
filed her claim well within the
three-year prescriptive period for
the filing of money claims set forth
in Article 291 [now 305] of the
Labor Code.
For this reason, the Court held the
doctrine of laches inapplicable to
petitioner. As ruled in Imperial
Victory Shipping Agency vs. NLRC,
200 SCRA 178 (1991): “x x x Laches
is a doctrine in equity while
prescription is based on law. Our
courts are basically courts of law,
not courts of equity. Thus, laches
cannot be invoked to resist the
enforcement of an existing legal
right.xxx “Thus, where the claim
was filed within the three-year
statutory period, recovery therefor
cannot be barred by laches. Courts
should never apply the doctrine of
laches earlier than the expiration of
time limited for the
commencement of actions at law.”
6. MINIMUM EMPLOYMENT CONDITIONS
The POEA Regulations Governing
Overseas Employment (amended in
2002) in Part V, Rule I, Sec. 2 prescribes
the following minimum provisions of
employment contracts:
a. Guaranteed wages for regular
working hours and overtime pay, as
appropriate, which shall not be lower
than the prescribed minimum wage in
the host country, nor lower than the
appropriate minimum wage standard
set forth in a bilateral agreement or
international convention duly ratified
by the host country and the Philippines
or not lower than the minimum wage in
the Philippines, whichever is highest;
b. Free transportation to and from the
worksite, or offsetting benefit;
c. Free food and accommodation, or
offsetting benefit;
d. Just/authorized causes for
termination of the contract or of the
services of the workers taking into
consideration the customs, traditions,
norms, mores, practices, company
policies and the labor laws and social
legislations of the host country;
e. The Administration may also consider
the following as basis for other
provisions of the contract:
1. Existing labor and social laws of the
host country;
2. Relevant agreements, conventions,
delegations or resolutions;
3. Relevant bilateral and multilateral
agreements or arrangements with the
host country; and
4. Prevailing condition/realities in the
market.
6. FREEDOM TO STIPULATE
- Parties to overseas employment
contracts are allowed to stipulate other
terms and conditions and other benefits
not provided under these minimum
requirements; provided the whole
employment package should be more
beneficial to the worker than the
minimum; provided that the same shall
not be contrary to law, public policy and
morals, and provided further, that
Philippine agencies shall make foreign
employers aware of the standards of
employment adopted by the
Administration.
ART. 21. FOREIGN SERVICE ROLE AND
PARTICIPATION
To provide ample protection to Filipino
workers abroad, the labor attaches, the labor
reporting officers duly designated by the
Secretary of Labor and the Philippine
diplomatic or consular officials concerned
shall, even without prior instruction or advice
from the home office, exercise the power and
duty:
(a) To provide all Filipino workers within their
jurisdiction assistance on all matters arising
out of employment;
(b) To insure that Filipino workers are not
exploited or discriminated against;
(c) To verify and certify as requisite to
authentication that the terms and conditions
of employment in contracts involving Filipino
workers are in accordance with the Labor Code
and rules and regulations of the Overseas
Employment Development Board and National
Seamen Board;
(d) To make continuing studies or researches
and recommendations on the various aspects
of the employment market within their
jurisdiction;
(e) To gather and analyze information on the
employment situation and its probable trends,
and to make such information available to the
Department of Labor and Employment and the
Department of Foreign Affairs; and
(f) To perform such other duties as may be
required of them from time to time.
1. PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE BY
GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
- In addition to the officials mentioned
in Article 21, R.A. No. 8042 (Sec. 23)
assigns four government agencies to
promote the welfare and protect the
rights of migrant workers and, as far as
applicable, of all overseas Filipinos. The
agencies are the Department of Foreign
Affairs (DFA), the Department of Labor
and Employment (DOLE), the Philippine
Overseas Employment Administration
(POEA), and the Overseas Workers
Welfare Administration (OWWA).
-(a) Department of Foreign Affairs. —
The Department, through its home
office or foreign posts, shall take
priority action or make representation
with the foreign authority concerned to
protect the rights of migrant workers
and other overseas Filipinos and extend
immediate assistance including the
repatriation of distressed or
beleaguered migrant workers and other
overseas Filipinos.
-R.A. No. 8042 created the position of
Legal Assistant for Migrant Worker’s
Affairs [LAMWA] under the Department
of Foreign Affairs. Its primary
responsibility is to provide and
coordinate all legal assistance services
to Filipinos in distress. It also
administers the Legal Assistance Fund
for Migrant Workers.
-Finally, R.A. No. 8042 establishes a
“Migrant Workers and Other Overseas
Filipinos Resource Center” in Philippine
Embassies in countries where there are
at least 20,000 migrant workers. The
resource center is envisioned to provide
such services as counseling and legal
assistance, welfare assistance including
procurement of medical and
hospitalization services, registration of
undocumented workers, and
conciliation of disputes arising from
employer-employee relationship. The
resource center is to be established and
operated jointly by the government
agencies mentioned, although its
operation is to be managed by the
Labor Attaché.
(b) Department of Labor and
Employment. — The Department of
Labor and Employment shall see to it
that labor and social welfare laws in the
foreign countries are fairly applied to
migrant workers and whenever
applicable, to other overseas Filipinos
including the grant of legal assistance
and referral to proper medical centers
or hospitals.
(c) Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration. — The POEA shall
regulate private sector participation in
the recruitment and overseas
placement of workers by setting up a
licensing and registration system. It
shall also formulate and implement, in
coordination with appropriate entities
concerned, when necessary, a system
for promoting and monitoring the
overseas employment of Filipino
workers taking into consideration their
welfare and the domestic manpower
requirements
(d) Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration. —
The Welfare Officer or in his absence,
the coordinating officer, shall provide
the Filipino migrant worker and his
family all the assistance they may need
in the enforcement of contractual
obligations by agencies or entities
and/or their principals. In the
performance of this function, he shall
make representation and may call on
 the agencies or entities concerned to
conferences or conciliation meetings for
the purpose of setting the complaints
or problems brought to his attention.
2. THE RPM CENTER
-A migrant worker returning to the
country has to be reintegrated into the
Philippine society. To serve as a
promotion house for local employment
of these returning workers and to tap
their skills for national development,
R.A. No. 8042 created in the
Department of Labor and Employment
the “RPM (Re-Placement and
Monitoring) Center.”
-Coordinating with the private sector,
the RPM Center is expected to develop
livelihood programs for the returning
workers and formulate a computer-
based information system on skilled
Filipino migrant workers.
3. THE OWWA
-The Welfare Fund for Overseas
Workers Administration was created by
P.D. No. 1694 (May 1, 1980) as
amended by P.D. No. 1809 (January 16,
1981). Known as the Welfund, it was
intended to provide social and welfare
services, including insurance coverage,
legal assistance, placement assistance
and remittance services to Filipino
overseas workers. The Welfund was
funded with contributions from the
workers themselves and the fees and
charges imposed by the POEA and the
BLE. The Welfund was (and still is)
administered by a Board of Trustees
chaired by the Secretary of Labor and
Employment. In 1987, Executive Order
No. 126 renamed the Welfund the
Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration or OWWA.
4. REPATRIATION
-The OWWA has a role to play even in
cases where a worker has to be sent or
brought back to the Philippines
-The repatriation of the worker and the
transport of his personal belongings
shall be the primary responsibility of
the agency which recruited or deployed
the worker overseas. All costs attendant
to repatriation shall be borne by or
charged to the agency concerned
and/or its principal.
-In no case shall an employment agency
require any bond or cash deposit from
the worker to guarantee his/her
repatriation. The mandatory
repatriation bond is abolished as of
June 17, 1995 pursuant to Section 36 of
R.A. No. 8042.
4.1 Of the Remains
The repatriation of remains and
transport of personal belongings of a
deceased worker and all costs
attendant thereto shall be borne by the
principal and/or the local agency.
4.2 Worker at Fault
In cases where the termination of
employment is due solely to the fault of
the worker, the principal/employer, or
agency shall not in any manner be
responsible for the repatriation of the
former and/or his belongings.
4.3 In Case of Disasters
The OWWA (Overseas Workers Welfare
Administration), in coordination with
appropriate international agencies,
shall undertake the repatriation of
workers in cases of war, epidemic,
disasters or calamities, natural or man-
made, and other similar events, without
prejudice to reimbursement by the
responsible principal or agency.
However, in cases where the principal
or recruitment agency cannot be
identified, all costs attendant to
repatriation shall be borne by the
OWWA. The law has created and
established an emergency repatriation
fund under the control of OWWA.
4.4 Validity
A recruitment agency has questioned
the validity of Section 15 of R.A. No.
8042 and of Secs. 52 to 55 of the
implementing rules on the ground that
they violate the agency’s right to due
process. The Court upheld the validity
of the law and the rules which provide
that “the repatriation of remains and
transport of the personal belongings of
a deceased worker and all costs
attendant thereto shall be borne by the
principal and/or the local agency.” The
mandatory nature of said obligation is
characterized by the legislature’s use of
the word “shall.” That the concerned
government agencies opted to demand
the performance of said responsibility
solely upon petitioner does not make
said directives invalid as the law plainly
obliges a local placement agency such
as herein petitioner to bear the burden
of repatriating the remains of a
deceased OFW with or without
recourse to the principal abroad. In this
regard, we [the Court] see no reason to
invalidate Sec. 52 of the omnibus rules
as R.A. No. 8042 itself permits the
situation wherein a local recruitment
agency can be held exclusively
responsible for the repatriation of a
deceased OFW. The placement agency
may try to establish the worker’s fault,
but while doing so the agency must
repatriate the OFW. Said the Court:
Section 15 of Republic Act No. 8042,
however, certainly does not preclude a
placement agency from establishing the
circumstances surrounding an OFW’s
dismissal from service in an appropriate
proceeding. As such determination
would most likely take some time, it is
only proper that an OFW be brought
back here in our country at the soonest
possible time lest he remains stranded
in a foreign land during the whole time
that recruitment agency contests its
liability for repatriation. As aptly
pointed out by the Solicitor General —
Such a situation is unacceptable. This is
the same reason why repatriation is
made by law an obligation of the
agency and/or its principal without the
need of first determining the cause of
the termination of the worker’s
employment. Repatriation is in effect
an unconditional responsibility of the
agency and/or its principal that cannot
be delayed by an investigation of why
the worker was terminated from
employment. To be left stranded in a
foreign land without the financial
means to return home and being at the
mercy of unscrupulous individuals is a
violation of the OFW’s dignity and his
human rights. These are the same rights
R.A. No. 8042 seeks to protect. (Equi-
Asia Placement, Inc. vs. Department of
Foreign Affairs, et al., G.R. No. 152214,
September 19, 2006)
4.5 Mandatory Repatriation of Underage
Worker
Section 16 of R.A. No. 8042, as
amended states: Upon discovery or
being informed of the presence of
migrant workers whose ages fall below
the minimum age requirement for
overseas deployment, the responsible
officers in the foreign service shall
without delay repatriate said workers
and advise the Department of Foreign
Affairs through the fastest means of
communication available of such
discovery and other relevant
information. The license of a
recruitment/manning agency which
recruited or deployed an underage
migrant worker shall be automatically
revoked and shall be imposed a fine of
not less than five hundred thousand
pesos (P500,000.00) but not more than
one million pesos (P1,000,000.00). All
fees pertinent to the processing of
papers or documents in the recruitment
or deployment shall be refunded in full
by the responsible
recruitment/manning agency, without
need of notice, to the underage migrant
worker or to his parents or guardian.
The refund shall be independent of and
in addition to the indemnification for
the damages sustained by the underage
migrant worker. The refund shall be
paid within thirty (30) days from the
date of the mandatory repatriation as
provided for in this Act.
ART. 22. MANDATORY REMITTANCE OF
FOREIGN EXCHANGE EARNINGS
It shall be mandatory for all Filipino workers
abroad to remit a portion of their foreign
exchange earnings to their families,
dependents, and/ or beneficiaries in the
country in accordance with rules and
regulations prescribed by the Secretary of
Labor and Employment.
REMITTANCE
Executive Order No. 857, as amended,
prescribes the percentages of foreign
exchange remittance ranging from 50%
 to 80% of the basic salary, depending
on the worker’s kind of job. DOLE
figures for 1998-2000 show that the
annual remittances have breached the
US$6 billion level, inspiring the
government to call the OFWs “Mga
Bagong Bayani” (New Heroes).
ART. 23. COMPOSITION OF THE BOARDS
(a) The Overseas Employment
Development Board shall be composed
of the Secretary of Labor as Chairman,
the Undersecretary of Labor as Vice-
Chairman, and a representative each of
the Department of Foreign Affairs, the
Department of National Defense, the
Central Bank, the Department of
Education and Culture, the National
Manpower and Youth Council, the
Bureau of Employment Services, a
workers’ organization and an employers
organization, and the Executive Director
of the OEDB as members.
(b) The National Seamen Board shall be
composed of the Secretary of Labor as
Chairman, the Undersecretary of Labor
as Vice-Chairman, the Commandant of
the Philippine Coast Guard, and a
representative each of the Department
of Education and Culture, the Central
Bank, the Maritime Industry Authority,
the Bureau of Employment Services, a
national shipping association and the
Executive Director of the NSB as
members. The members of the Boards
shall receive allowances to be
determined by the Boards which shall
not be more than P2,000 per month.
(c) The Boards shall be attached to the
Department of Labor for policy and
program coordination. They shall each
be assisted by a Secretariat headed by
an Executive Director who shall be a
Filipino citizen with sufficient
experience in manpower
administration, including overseas
employment activities. The Executive
Director shall be appointed by the
President of the Philippines upon the
recommendation of the Secretary of
Labor and shall receive an annual salary
as fixed by law. The Secretary of Labor
shall appoint the other members of the
Secretariat.
(d) The Auditor General shall appoint
his representative to the Boards to
audit their respective accounts in
accordance with auditing laws and
pertinent rules and regulations.
COMPOSITION OF THE POEA
- As reorganized by E.O. No. 247 (July
24, 1987), after the end of the
Marcos Dictatorship, the Philippine
Overseas Employment
Administration consists of the
Governing Board, the Office of the
Administrator, the Offices of such
number of Deputy Administrators
as may be necessary, and Office of
the Director for each of the
principal subdivisions of its internal
structure. –
- The Governing Board is composed
of the Secretary of Labor and
Employment as Chairman, the
Administrator, and a third member,
considered well-versed in the field
of overseas employment who shall
be appointed by the President to
serve for a term of two (2) years.
- The Administrator and such Deputy
Administrator and Directors as may
be necessary are appointed by the
President upon recommendation of
the Secretary. The functional
structure of the Administration is
established along the areas of
market development, employment,
welfare, licensing, regulation and
adjudication, each headed by a
Director.
ART. 24. BOARDS TO ISSUE RULES AND
COLLECT FEES
The Boards shall issue appropriate
rules and regulations to carry out their
functions. They shall have the power
to impose and collect fees from
employers concerned, which shall be
deposited in the respective accounts of
said Boards and be used by them
exclusively to promote their
objectives.
Chapter II

REGULATIONS OF RECRUITMENT AND

PLACEMENT ACTIVITIES

ART. 25. PRIVATE SECTOR PARTICIPATION IN

THE RECRUITMENT AND PLACEMENT OF
WORKERS

Pursuant to national development objectives

and in order to harness and maximize the use
of private sector resources and initiative in the
development and implementation of a
comprehensive employment program, the
private employment sector shall participate in
the recruitment and placement of workers,
locally and overseas, under such guidelines,
rules and regulations as may be issued by the
Secretary of Labor.

1. POEA’S RETAINED JURISDICTION

- As already noted, R.A. No. 8042

transferred from POEA to NLRC the
jurisdiction over OFWs’ claims
arising from employer-employee
relationship. But POEA retains
original and exclusive jurisdiction
over cases involving violations of
POEA rules and regulations,
disciplinary cases and other cases
that are administrative in character
involving OFWs. Thus, POEA
performs regulatory, enforcement,
and limited or special adjudicatory
functions.
3. VALIDITY OF POEA REGULATIONS

- Under Sec. 4(a) of E.O. No. 797

which created the POEA, the
authority to issue regulations is
clearly provided: “x x x The
governing Board of the
Administration (POEA), as
hereunder provided, shall
promulgate the necessary rules and
regulations to govern the exercise
of the adjudicatory functions of the
Administration (POEA).” With the
proliferation of specialized activities
and their attendant peculiar
problems, the national legislature
has found it more and more
necessary to entrust to
administrative agencies the
 authority to issue rules to carry out
the general provisions of the
statute. This is called “the power of
subordinate legislation.”1 The
regulations issued by administrative
agencies have the force and effect
of law.
2.1 POEA Circular No. 11 (1983)
Unenforceable for Lack of
Publication
- The ruling in Tañada vs. Tuvera,
136 SCRA 27 (1985), is reiterated;
i.e., administrative rules and
regulations must be published if its
purpose is to enforce or implement
existing law pursuant to a valid
delegation. Considering that POEA
Administrative Circular No. 2, Series
of 1983 (embodying a schedule of
fees that employment offices may
charge) has not yet been published
or filed with the National
Administrative Register, the circular
cannot be used as basis for the
imposition of administrative
sanctions.
ART. 26. TRAVEL AGENCIES PROHIBITED TO
RECRUIT
Travel agencies and sales agencies of airline
companies are prohibited from engaging in the
business of recruitment and placement of
workers for overseas employment whether for
profit or not.
- In addition to those mentioned in
this article, the POEA Rules (Rule 1,
Sec. 2) also disqualify persons with
derogatory records such as those
convicted for illegal recruitment or
other crimes involving moral
turpitude. The same prohibition
extends to any official or employee
of DOLE, POEA, OWWA, DFA and
other government agencies directly
involved in the implementation of
R.A. No. 8042 or any of their
relatives within the fourth civil
degree.
ART. 27. CITIZENSHIP REQUIREMENT
Only Filipino citizens or corporations,
partnerships or entities at least seventy-five
percent (75%) of the authorized and voting
capital stock of which is owned and controlled
by Filipino citizens shall be permitted to
participate in the recruitment and placement
of workers, locally or overseas.
ART. 28. CAPITALIZATION
All applicants for authority to hire or renewal
of license to recruit are required to have such
substantial capitalization as determined by the
Secretary of Labor.
-A private employment agency for local
employment should have a minimum
networth of P200,000.00 in the case of
single proprietorship and partnership or
a minimum paid-up capital of
P500,000.00 in the case of a
corporation.1 A private recruitment or
manning agency for overseas
employment should have a minimum
capitalization of P2,000,000.00 for
single proprietorship or partnership,
and a minimum paid-up capital of
P2,000,000.00 for corporation.
ART. 29. NON-TRANSFERABILITY OF LICENSE
OR AUTHORITY
No license or authority shall be used directly or
indirectly by any person other than the one in
whose favor it was issued or at any place other
than that stated in the license or authority, nor
may such license or authority be transferred,
conveyed or assigned to any other person or
entity. Any transfer of business address,
appointment or designation of any agent or
representative including the establishment of
additional offices anywhere shall be subject to
the prior approval of the Department of Labor.
PLACE OF RECRUITMENT
Licensees or holders of authority or
their duly authorized representatives
may, as a rule, undertake recruitment
and placement activity only at their
authorized official addresses. Most, if
not all, of these licensees or holders of
authority have their official addresses in
Metro Manila. Under existing
regulations, they may be allowed to
conduct provincial recruitment and/or
job fairs only upon written authority
from the POEA.
ART. 30. REGISTRATION FEES
The Secretary of Labor shall
promulgate schedule of fees for the
 registration of all applicants for license
or authority.

ART. 31. BONDS

All applicants for license or authority

shall post such cash and surety bonds
as determined by the Secretary of
Labor to guarantee compliance with
prescribed recruitment procedures,
rules and regulations, and terms and
conditions of employment as may be
appropriate.