Republic Act No. 8042, as amended:
“The Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos act of 1995”
Purpose:
The law seeks to ensure and protect the rights of past, present,
and future Filipino workers abroad, as workers and as human
beings, regardless of whether such work is conducted inland
or maritime.
Application:
The law applies to Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs)
• Requisite:
He/she is a person to be engaged or has been engaged in
a renumerated activity (i.e., he/she has been promised or
assured employment overseas) in a country of which he is
not a citizen or on-board a vessel navigating the foreign
seas.
• Does not include:
Any person engaged, past, present, or future, in a
renumerated activity:
a. On-board a vessel that is for a government ship used
for military or non-commercial purpose; or,
b. On an installation located offshore or on high seas.
Primary government agencies tasked to enforce the law:
• Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA)
The POEA shall:
✓ Regulate the private sector’s participation in the
recruitment and overseas placement of workers by
setting up a licensing and registration system.
✓ Regulate and manage overseas employment from the
pre-employment stage.
✓ Instruct and guide the workers on how to assert their
rights and provide the available mechanism to
redress violation of their rights (i.e., through
programs or seminars.
✓ Implement an intensified program against illegal
recruitment activities, in partnership with law
enforcement agencies.
However, please note that POEA is barred from engaging
in the recruitment and placement of overseas workers,
except on a government-to-government arrangement
only.
• Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA)
The OWWA 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
by their principals.
✓ call on the agencies or entities concerned to
conferences or conciliation meetings for the purpose
of settling the compliance or problems brought to its
attention.
✓ Formulate and implement welfare programs for
overseas Filipino workers and their families while
they are abroad and upon their return.
Other government agencies tasked to enforce the law:
•
•
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•
Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)
Tasked to ensure that the labor and social welfare laws in
the foreign countries are fairly applied to migrant workers
and whenever applicable, to other overseas Filipinos.
Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA)
Through its home office or foreign posts, it shall take
priority action or make representation with the foreign
authority concerned to protect the rights of migrant
workers and other overseas Filipinos.
Department of Health (DOH)
Regulate the activities and operations of all clinics which
conduct health examinations (i.e., medical, physical,
optical, dental, psychological, etc.), on Filipino migrant
workers as requirement for their overseas employment.
Local Government Units (LGUs)
Primarily responsible for the dissemination of information
to their constituents on all aspects of overseas
employment.
Requirements of the law:
• Deployment of OFWs:
o General rule:
OFWs can be deployed only in countries that:
✓ Has an existing labor and social laws protecting
the rights of migrant worker;
✓ Is a signatory to or ratifier of multilateral
conventions, declarations, or resolutions relating
to the protection of workers; or,
✓ Has concluded a bilateral agreement with the
Philippines on the protection of the human rights
of OFWs
o Exception:
On the following instances, deployment may only be
allowed if:
✓ The owners/employers are compliant with
international laws and standards that protect the
rights of the migrant workers – deployment of
Filipino seafarers.
✓ The employment contract complied with the
standards and conditions prescribed by the POEA
– deployment of Filipino workers to companies
with international operations.
• Employment standards for maritime OFWs:
✓ Employment shall commence from the time of the
OFW’s departure from the Philippine air/sea port.
✓ Working hours shall be 8 hours/day; 48 days/month.
✓ Overtime pay shall either be fixed (i.e., not less than
30% of the basic monthly salary) or open (i.e., not less
than 125% of the basic hourly rate).
✓ Leave pay shall not be less than 4.5 days for each
month of service.
✓ Shore leave shall be allowed whenever practicable.
✓ Subsistence shall be provided while on-board the
ship.
✓ Medical benefits shall be provided, especially for
work-related injuries or illnesses, which is equivalent
to the basic wage until the seafarer is either:
a. Declared fit to work; or,
b.
•
•
Repatriated, wherein the employer shall
continue to provide the medical benefits, as well
as a sickness allowance, until the seafarer is
either:
Declared fit to work; or,
Assessed to be disabled for about 120 days
maximum.
✓ Benefits for disability, permanent or partial, shall be
given on top of benefits of the like provided by certain
Philippine government agencies (e.g., SSS, PHIC,
OWWA, etc.)
✓ Termination pay shall be provided, which must not be
less than the seafarer’s one (1) month basic salary, for
a termination due to:
a. Shipwreck
b. Foundering
c. Sale of the ship
d. Discontinuance of voyage
e. Unseaworthiness of the ship
✓ Death benefits (i.e., for work-related death of the
seafarer) shall be accorded to:
a. The bereft, in the amount of USD 50,000.00; and,
b. USD 7,000.00 for each child below 21 years of age
(i.e., maximum of 4 children only)
As well as the cost of transportation of the remains
and personal effects of the seafarer to the Philippines,
and burial expenses not exceeding USD 1,000.00.
Employment standards for land based OFWs:
✓ Basic monthly salary shall be provided and must be
not lower than the prevailing minimum wage:
a. In the host country; or,
b. In the Philippines,
Whichever is higher.
✓ Benefits and allowances on top of the basic salary
must also be provided.
✓ Food and accommodation, or the monetary
equivalent of the same, shall be accorded, provided
that for the latter option, the amount must be
commensurate with the cost of living in the host
country.
✓ The following must also be accorded:
a. Regular work hours and day off;
b. Overtime pays and premium pays for work
rendered during rest days or holidays;
c. Allowance for vacation leave and sick leave for
every year of service; and,
d. Free emergency medical and dental treatment.
Insurance policies and coverages:
o Applicability:
To all recruitment or manning agencies that were able
to deploy an OFW.
o Requirement:
A recruitment or manning agency is required to:
a. Insure each OFW the deploy
b. Premium costs shouldered fully by the said
agency.
o Liability for non-compliance:
•
A recruitment or manning agency, as well as all of its
directors, partners, proprietors, officers, and
employees shall be perpetually disqualified from
engaging in recruitment of OFWs.
o Coverage:
a. Payable to the OFW’s beneficiaries:
USD 15,000.00 for accidental death
USD 10,000.00 for natural death
b. Payable directly to the OFW:
USD 7,500.00 for permanent disability
USD 100.00 per month for six (6) months for
subsistence allowance, in case the OFW is
involved in a litigation defending his rights in
the receiving country
Repatriation costs, for termination without
valid reason
An amount equivalent to at least three (3)
months of the OFW’s employment contract,
for every year, in case of money claims
against the OFW’s employer in the NLRC
Cost of transportation for compassionate
visit by one (1) family member in case the
OFW was hospitalized for at least seven (7)
consecutive days.
Costs of medical evacuation or medical
repatriation, under circumstances that
necessitate the same.
o Notes:
The following requisites must be met before an
insurance company be allowed to provide insurance
to a deployed OFW:
a. It must be duly registered with the Insurance
Commission;
b. In existence and operational for at least five (5)
years;
c. With a net worth of at least PHP 5,000,000.00;
and,
d. With a current certificate of authority.
However, an insurance company where one or any of
its directors, partners, officers, or employees have a
relative within fourth (4th) degree of consanguinity or
affinity with any person who works or has an interest
in any government agencies involved in the
enforcement of this subject law are disqualified from
providing insurance to an OFW.
Claims arising from accidental death, natural death, or
disablement:
o Requirements:
Any claim arising from the aforementioned is
accorded by the law as without question and delay on
the part of the insurance company. However, in order
to be entitled for such claim, the OFW, or his/her
beneficiaries, shall furnish a duly authenticated (i.e.,
by the Philippine foreign post):
✓ Death certificate – accidental or natural death
✓ Police report or accident report – accidental
death
✓ Medical certificate – permanent disablement.
o
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Additional claims:
In case of death, the insurance company shall also:
✓ Arrange and pay for the repatriation or return of
the remains of the deceased OFW.
✓ Provide assistance that are deemed necessary for
the said transportation (e.g., procurement of
consular services, securing the death certificate,
etc.).
Repatriation of OFWs:
o General rule:
All costs of an OFW’s repatriation shall be borne by
the recruitment or manning agency or its principal,
whichever is applicable.
o Exception:
The same shall not apply if the repatriation was due
solely to the fault of the OFW.
Services and privileges available to OFWs:
Upon proper showing of proof of entitlement, an OFW
may be:
o Exempt from paying:
✓ travel tax and airport fee
✓ documentary stamp tax
o Entitled to:
✓ Travel advisory or information dissemination
coming from Philippine embassies and consular
offices
✓ Access migrant workers and other overseas
Filipino resource centers
✓ Migrant workers loan guarantee
✓ Congressional migrant workers scholarship fund
✓ National reintegration center for OFWs
✓ Legal assistance, as may be provided through the
Legal Assistant for Migrant Workers Affair under
the DFA
✓ Sectoral representation in congress.
Acts prohibited and penalized by the law:
Illegal recruitment
• Definition
It is an act of canvassing, enlisting, contracting,
transporting, utilizing, hiring, or procuring workers and by
a non-licensee or non-holder of authority contemplated
under Article 13(f) of P.D. No. 44 (i.e., Labor Code of the
Philippines), as amended.
• Types/kinds:
✓ Syndicated Illegal Recruitment – it is deemed
committed by a syndicate if carried out by a group of
three or more persons conspiring or confederating
with one another.
✓ Large Scale Illegal Recruitment – it is deemed in large
scale if it is committed against three or more persons
individually or as a group.
• Penalties:
Please note that aside from paying fines and/or
imprisonment, closure of the recruitment establishment is
also included.
Type
Sentence
Fine
Laches
Syndicated
Illegal
Recruitment
12 years and
1 day to 20
years
imprisonment
PHP 1.0M to
PHP 2.0M
After five (5)
years
Large-scale
Illegal
Recruitment
Life
imprisonment
PHP 1.2M to
PHP 5.0M
After twenty
(20) years
•
Closure order:
As provided by the law, the power to close an
establishment engaged in illegal recruitment is vested in
the POEA. As such, the said closure has the following
effects:
✓ It will result in the inclusion of all officers and
responsible employee of the agency or entity
engaged in illegal recruitment activities in the List of
Persons with Derogatory Record; and,
✓ Said persons are disqualified from participating in the
overseas employment program of the government.
• Grounds for closure order:
An establishment may be issued a closure order by the
POEA if it finds that the non-licensee:
✓ Constitute a danger to national security; and,
✓ Will lead to further exploitation of job seekers.
Other prohibited acts:
• Inclusions:
✓ Grant of a loan to an OFW with interest exceeding
eight percent (8%) per annum, for payment of legal
and allowable placement fees.
✓ Refusal to condone or renegotiate a loan incurred by
an OFW after the latter’s employment contract has
been prematurely terminated through no fault of
his/her own.
✓ Imposition of a compulsory and exclusive
arrangement whereby an OFW is required to:
a. Undergo health examinations only from
specifically designated medical clinics or persons.
b. Avail of a loan only from specifically designated
entities or persons.
c. Undergo training, seminar, instruction, or
schooling of any kind only from specifically
designated institutions or persons.
✓ When a suspended recruitment/manning agency to
engage in any kind of continued recruitment activity.
✓ When a recruitment/manning agency or a foreign
principal/employer charge from an OFW’s salary the
payment of the cost of insurance-related premiums
and charges.
• Penalty:
o Principal penalty:
Six (6) years and one (1) day to twelve (12) years
imprisonment; and,
Fine ranging from PHP 0.5M to PHP 1.0M.
o Accessory penalty:
Deportation after service of sentence (i.e., if the
offender is an alien); or,
Automatic revocation of the license/registration
of the entity or person involved.
Remedies provided by the law:
• Exhaustion of Administrative Remedies:
o
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•
The POEA has original and exclusive jurisdiction to
hear and decide cases concerning:
a. The administrative aspect of recruitment
violations committed by recruitment/manning
agencies; or,
b. Disciplinary action cases and other special cases
involving employers, principals, contracting
partners, and OFWs processed by the POEA.
o The NLRC has original and exclusive jurisdiction to
hear and decide claims of OFWs arising out of an
employer-employee relationship, including claims for
damages.
Prescriptive period for filing an administrative case:
Administrative cases involving recruitment violations and
disciplinary actions should be filed within three (3) years
from accrual of the cause of action.
Procedural Requirements:
o Money claims arising from employer’s liability:
In such a claim, after a decision has become final and
executory or a settlement agreement/compromise
has been reached by the parties, either before the
NLRC:
1. An order shall be released mandating the
recruitment/manning agency to pay the amount
adjudged or agreed within thirty (30) days.
2. The recruitment/manning agency shall then
immediately file a notice of claim with its
insurance provider for the amount of the liability
insured, attached therewith the copy of the
decision or compromise agreement.
3. Within ten (10) days from filing of notice of claim,
the insurance company shall make payment to
the recruitment/manning agency.
4. After receiving the insurance payment, the
recruitment/manning agency shall then pay the
OFW’s claim in full:
a. Solely by the insurance provider if the
amount of insurance is sufficient; or,
b. Jointly with the recruitment/manning
agency if the said amount is insufficient.
5. In case the insurance provider fails to make
payment within the (10) days from the filing of
the claim, the recruitment/manning agency shall
pay in the former’s stead within the remaining
(30) days, counted from the issuance of the
notice of claim.
6. If the OFW’s claim is not paid within the thirty
(30) days period, the recruitment/manning
agency’s performance bond or escrow deposit
shall be garnished and used to satisfy the claim.
o Motion to re-open establishment:
a. Who can file?
✓ The owner of the building;
✓ The building administrator;
✓ The person or entity against whom the
closure was issued and implemented; or,
✓ Any person or entity legitimately operating
within the premises closed or padlocked and
o
o
whose operations or activities are distinct
from recruitment activities.
b. When may it be granted?
✓ When the office is not the subject of the
closure order;
✓ When the contract of lease with the owner if
the building administrator has already been
canceled or terminated;
✓ When the office is shared by a person or
entity not involved in illegal recruitment
activities; or,
✓ Any grounds that the POEA may consider as
valid and meritorious.
Motion to lift closure order:
a. Who can file?
Only the person or entity against whom the
closure order was issued and implemented can
file a motion.
b. When and where can it be filed?
It can be filed with the Licensing and Regulation
Office or the Regional Director of DOLE within ten
(10) calendar days counted from the date of
implementation of the closure order.
Appeals:
a. In a case filed before and adjudicated by the
POEA, appeal must be made:
✓ Within fifteen (15) days from the receipt of
the decision
✓ To the Secretary of Labor and Employment
b. In a motion to lift a closure order or a denied
motion to re-open, appeal must be made:
✓ Within ten (10) days from service or receipt
thereof
✓ To the Secretary of Labor and Employment
Republic Act No. 7277, as amended:
“Magna Carta for Persons with Disability”
Purpose:
To grant rights and privileges for disabled persons by:
a. Giving full support to the improvement of the total wellbeing of disabled persons and their integration into the
mainstream of society; and,
b. Provide rehabilitation in order for them to foster their
capacity to attain a more meaningful, productive, and
satisfying life, as well as accommodate to their social
barriers.
Application:
The law applies to Persons with Disability (PWDs)
[Requisite] He/she is a person who is suffering from certain
limitations to perform an activity in the manner considered
normal for a human being, as a result of a mental, physical, or
sensory impairment.
Primary government agencies tasked to enforce the law:
• Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD)
Tasked to design and implement training programs that
will provide disabled persons with vocational skills to
enable them to engage in livelihood activities or obtain
gainful employment and implement programs on auxiliary
social services that respond to the needs of marginalized
disabled persons.
• Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)
Tasked to provide disabled persons with vocational skills
to enable them to engage in livelihood activities or obtain
gainful employment
• National Council for the Welfare of the Disabled Persons
(NCWDP)
Tasked to promulgate the rules and regulations necessary
to implement the provisions.
• Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS)
Tasked to establish special education classes in public
schools in cities, or municipalities. It shall also establish,
where viable, Braille and Record Libraries in provinces,
cities, or municipalities.
• Department of Health (DOH)
Tasked to establish medical rehabilitation centers in
government provincial hospitals, and shall include in its
annual appropriation the necessary funds for the
operation of such centers.
• Department of Transportation and Communications
(DOTC)
Tasked to formulate the rules and regulations necessary
to implement a barrier-free environment for the disabled.
Benefits provided by the law:
In general, the following benefits are accorded by the law to
the PWDs:
✓ Equal opportunity for employment
✓ Equal terms and conditions of employment
✓ Right to sheltered employment
✓ Right to be hires as apprentices or learners
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Right to quality education
Right to health services
Auxiliary social services
Barrier-free environment
Mobility
Public transport facilities
Suffrage
Freedom of expression
Self-organization
Other benefits accorded by the law:
Any donation, bequest, subsidy, or financial aid which may be
made to government agencies engaged in the rehabilitation of
disabled persons and organizations of disabled persons shall
be exempt from the donor's tax subject to the provisions of
Section 94 of the NIRC.
Requirements of the law:
• Employment:
✓ A qualified disabled employee shall be subject to the
same terms and conditions of employment and the
same compensation, privileges, benefits, fringe
benefits, incentives, or allowances as a qualified ablebodied person.
✓ If found to be eligible for apprenticeship, provided
that their handicap is not as much as to effectively
impede the performance of job operations in the
particular occupation for which they are hired and if
found satisfactory in the job performance, they shall
be eligible for employment.
✓ Private entities that improve or modify their physical
facilities in order to provide reasonable
accommodation for disabled persons.
• Education:
✓ Establish schools where viable, Braille and Record
Libraries in provinces, cities, or municipalities.
✓ The state in accordance with shall the Department of
Education, Culture and Sports establish, where viable,
Braille and Record Libraries in provinces, cities, or
municipalities.
✓ The State University or State College in each region or
province shall be responsible for:
a. The development of material appliances and
technical aids for disabled persons;
b. The development of training materials for
vocational rehabilitation and special education
instructions;
c. The research on special problems, particularly of
the visually-impaired, hearing-impaired, speechimpaired, and orthopedically-impaired students,
mentally retarded, and multi-handicapped and
others, and the elimination of social barriers and
discrimination against disabled persons; and,
d. The inclusion of the Special Education for
Disabled (SPED) course in the curriculum.
• Health
✓ The Department of Health shall formulate and
implement a program to enable marginalized
•
•
•
•
•
disabled persons to avail of free rehabilitation
services in government hospitals.
✓ The state shall adopt an integrated and
comprehensive
approach
to
their
health
development which shall make essential health
services available to them at affordable cost.
Auxiliary social services
✓ Assistance in the acquisition of prosthetic devices and
medical intervention of specialty services.
✓ Provide specialized training activities designed to
improve functional limitations of disabled persons
related to communication skills.
✓ Development among disabled persons of a positive
self-image through the provision of counseling,
orientation and mobility and strengthening daily
living capability.
Telecommunication services
Provide a sign language inset or subtitles in at least one (1)
newscast program a day and special programs covering
events of national significance.
Free postal charges
✓ Articles and literatures like books and periodicals,
orthopedic and other devices, and teaching aids.
✓ Aids and orthopedic devices for the disabled sent by
abroad by mail for repair provided that it’s for
personal use and that the disabled person is
marginalized.
Accessibility
o Barrier free environment:
Enable disabled persons to have access in public and
private buildings and establishments and such other
places mentioned in Batas Pambansa Bilang 344,
otherwise known as the "Accessibility Law"
o Mobility:
✓ Disabled persons shall be allowed to drive motor
vehicles, subject to the rules and regulations
issued by the Land Transportation Office
pertinent to the nature of their disability and the
appropriate adaptations or modifications made
on such vehicles.
✓ The Department of Social Welfare and
Development shall develop a program to assist
marginalized disabled persons gain access in the
use of public transport facilities.
Political rights
Disabled persons shall be allowed to be assisted by a
person of his choice in voting in the national or local
elections. The person thus chosen shall prepare the ballot
for the disabled voter inside the voting booth. The person
assisting shall bind himself in a formal document under
oath to fill out the ballot strictly in accordance with the
instructions of the voter and not to reveal the contents of
the ballot prepared by him.
Acts prohibited and penalized by the law:
• Acts prohibited:
o Discrimination in employment:
✓
•
Providing less compensation, such as salary,
wage or other forms of remuneration and fringe
benefits, to a qualified disabled employee, by
reason of his disability.
✓ Favoring a non-disabled employee.
✓ Re-assigning or transferring a disabled employee
to a job or position he cannot perform by reason
of his disability.
✓ Dismissing or terminating the services of a
disabled employee by reason of his disability.
✓ Excluding disabled persons from membership in
labor unions or similar organizations.
o Discrimination in the use of public accommodation
and service:
✓ Denying a disabled person the opportunity to
participate in or benefit from the goods, services,
facilities, privileges, advantages, of an entity by
reason of his disability;
✓ Affording a disabled person, on the basis of his
disability, with the opportunity to participate in
or benefit from a good, service, facility, privilege,
advantage, or accommodation that is not equal
to that afforded to other able-bodied persons;
and,
✓ Providing disability with a good, service, facility,
advantages, privilege, or accommodation that is
different or separate from that provided to other
able-bodied persons.
o Discrimination on Transportation:
✓ Charging of higher fare; or,
✓ Refusal to convey a passenger, his orthopedic
devices, personal effects, and merchandise by
reason of his disability.
o Ridiculing persons with disability:
✓ Making fun of a person on account of his/her
disability even through jokes in a manner that is
degrading, resulting to the embarrassment of the
PWD.
✓ Mocking a person with disability, whether oral or
in writing.
✓ Imitating a PWD in public gatherings, stage
shows, carnivals, television shows, etc., that are
offensive to the rights and dignity of PWDs.
o Vilification of persons with disability:
✓ Calling a person by his disability in public that
result to humiliation.
✓ Using the disability of a person as an example in
a manner that is embarrassing and humiliating to
the dignity of the PWD.
✓ Inciting in public, hatred, serious contempt, or
severe ridicule of PWDs.
Penalties:
o First violation
Fine ranging from PHP50,000.00 to PHP100,000.00,
or imprisonment ranging from 6 months to 2 years, or
both at the discretion of the court
o Subsequent violation
o
o
Fine ranging from PHP100,000.00 to PHP200,000.00,
or imprisonment ranging from 2 years to 6 years, or
both at the discretion of the court.
Abuse of privileges
Imprisonment of not less than 6 months or a fine
ranging from PHP5,000.00 to PHP50,000.00, or both
at the discretion of the court.
Alien or foreigner violator
Shall be deported immediately after service of
sentence without further deportation proceedings.
Remedies provided by the law:
The Secretary of Justice shall investigate alleged violations of
this Act, and shall undertake periodic reviews of compliance of
covered entities under this Act.
The following constitute a potential violation if the Secretary
of Justice has reasonable cause to believe that:
• Any person or group of persons is engaged in a pattern of
practice of discrimination under this Act; or,
• Any person or group or persons has been discriminated
against under this Act and such discrimination raises and
issue of general public importance,
the Secretary of Justice may commence a legal action in any
appropriate court.
Authority of the Court:
✓ Grant temporary, preliminary, or permanent relief.
✓ Provide an auxiliary aid or service, modification of policy,
practice or procedure, or alternative method.
✓ Make facilities readily accessible to and usable by
individuals with disabilities.