Question & AnswerQ&A (MANILA CITY ORDICE NO. 8486)
The act taxes every person or entity engaged in contracting, enlisting, recruiting, or shipment of laborers in the Philippine Islands.
The annual tax is five hundred pesos, payable to the provincial treasurer of each province where laborers are contracted or recruited, or to the Collector of Internal Revenue if in Manila.
The corporation or person represented is responsible for paying the tax, not each of its agents or employees.
No, the Act expressly prohibits any contracting or recruiting of individuals of non-Christian tribes for exhibiting in the Philippines or in any other foreign country.
Yes, the Act does not apply to persons contracting individuals for other personal service or to make up the crew of a vessel.
They must provide free passage to laborers returning to the Philippines once their contract period has expired or if the laborer has become unfit for work due to physical incapacity, provided the laborer complied with contractual terms.
Yes, an annual license issued by the Director of the Bureau of Labor and approved by the Secretary of Commerce and Police is required.
The license fee is six thousand pesos annually, which must be paid to the Insular Treasury.
The Director of Labor supervises all contracts and must ensure no contracting of minors under fifteen years, and minors under eighteen years can only be contracted with written consent of their parents or guardians.
Violations may be punished by a fine not exceeding two thousand pesos, imprisonment for not more than two years, or both, at the discretion of the court.
The Governor-General appoints commissioners to serve outside the Philippines to receive complaints from Filipino laborers, arbitrate disputes, ensure contract compliance, and look after laborers' interests, reporting their condition to the Governor-General.
The total expense must not exceed six thousand pesos in any one year.
The Act took effect thirty days after its passage on February 5, 1915.