Migrant Workers Protection Law

Policy and governing intent

Section 2 requires the State to uphold the dignity of its citizens both in country or overseas, and especially Filipino migrant workers.
Section 2 directs the State to afford full protection to labor—organized and unorganized, local and overseas—and to promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities.
Section 2 mandates adequate and timely social, economic and legal services for Filipino migrant workers.
Section 2 provides that the State does not promote overseas employment as a means to sustain economic growth and achieve national development.
Section 2 declares that the overseas employment program rests solely on assurance that the dignity, and the fundamental human rights and freedoms of the Filipino citizen shall not be compromised or violated.
Section 2 recognizes the fundamental equality before the law of women and men, and requires gender-sensitive criteria in policies affecting migrant workers and in the composition of bodies tasked for their welfare.
Section 2 guarantees free access to courts and quasi-judicial bodies, and adequate legal assistance, to any person who is poor, to ensure protection of distressed overseas Filipinos and migrant workers whether documented or undocumented.
Section 2 recognizes and guarantees the right of migrant workers and overseas Filipinos to participate in democratic decision-making and to be represented in relevant institutions.
Section 2 declares that the ultimate protection to migrant workers is possession of skills, and requires government deployment or allowance of deployment only of skilled Filipino workers, as soon as practicable.
Section 2 states that legitimate non-governmental organizations are partners of the State for migrant workers’ protection and welfare promotion.
Section 2 provides that government fees and other administrative costs of recruitment, introduction, placement and assistance to migrant workers shall be rendered free, without prejudice to Section 35.

Key terms and coverage

Section 3 defines “Migrant worker” as a person who is to be engaged, is engaged, or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a state where the person is not a legal resident; the term is used interchangeably with “overseas Filipino worker.”
Section 3 defines “Gender-sensitivity” as cognizance of inequalities between women and men and a commitment to address issues with concern for the respective interests of the sexes.
Section 3 defines “Overseas Filipinos” as dependents of migrant workers and other Filipino nationals abroad who are in distress, as mentioned in Sections 24 and 26.
Section 4 covers deployment of overseas Filipino workers in terms of the countries where they are sent and the rights protections available there.
Sections 6–13 focus criminal liability for illegal recruitment, covering acts undertaken by a non-licensee or non-holder of authority under the referenced Labor Code provisions, and also enumerated acts even if committed by any person including licensees/holders of authority.
Section 10 and Section 17–26 cover Filipino migrant workers and overseas Filipinos in distress, including legal assistance and services.
Sections 14–22 impose duties and create programs involving Philippine foreign posts, POEA, OWWA, and the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) concerning prevention, repatriation, assistance, and rights mechanisms.

Deployment, bans, and prohibited recruitment

Section 4 requires the State to deploy overseas Filipino workers only in countries where the rights of Filipino migrant workers are protected.
Section 4 recognizes protection of rights through any of these receiving-country guarantees: (1) existing labor and social laws protecting migrant workers’ rights; (2) signatory status to multilateral conventions, declarations or resolutions on migrant worker protection; (3) concluded bilateral agreements or arrangements protecting migrant workers’ rights; and (4) taking positive, concrete measures to protect migrant workers’ rights.
Section 5 authorizes the government to terminate or impose a ban on the deployment of migrant workers at any time pursuant to national interest or when public welfare requires, notwithstanding Section 4.
Section 6 defines illegal recruitment as any act of canvassing, enlisting, contracting, transporting, utilizing, hiring, or procuring workers, and includes referring, contract services, promising or advertising for employment abroad whether for profit or not, when undertaken by a non-licensee or non-holder of authority under Article 13(f) of Presidential Decree No. 442 (Labor Code).
Section 6 deems illegal recruitment also to exist when a non-licensee or non-holder offers or promises for a fee employment abroad to two or more persons.
Section 6 includes illegal recruitment acts committed by any person (including licensees/holders), specifically acts charging or accepting amounts exceeding the schedule of allowable fees, furnishing or publishing false notices/information/documents, misrepresentation to secure a license or authority, inducing a worker to quit employment to offer another except to liberate from oppressive terms, influencing others not to employ workers not applying through an agency, recruiting for jobs harmful to public health or morality or the dignity of the Republic of the Philippines, obstructing inspection, failing to submit required reports, substituting or altering approved and verified employment contracts to prejudice the worker without DOLE approval, officers/agents of recruitment agencies joining boards or managing travel agencies, withholding travel documents for monetary or financial considerations beyond Labor Code-authorized rules, failing to actually deploy without valid reason as determined by DOLE, and failing to reimburse documentation/processing expenses when deployment does not take place without worker fault.
Section 6 classifies illegal recruitment committed by a syndicate or in large scale as an offense involving economic sabotage.
Section 6 deems illegal recruitment committed by a syndicate when carried out by a group of three (3) or more persons conspiring or confederating, and deems it committed in large scale when committed against three (3) or more persons individually or as a group.
Section 6 provides that principals, accomplices and accessories are criminally liable, and in juridical persons, officers having control, management or direction of business are liable.

Criminal penalties for illegal recruitment

Section 7 provides that any person found guilty of illegal recruitment suffers imprisonment of not less than six (6) years and one (1) day but not more than twelve (12) years, and a fine of not less than PHP 200,000 nor more than PHP 500,000.
Section 7 imposes life imprisonment and a fine of not less than PHP 500,000 nor more than PHP 1,000,000 when illegal recruitment constitutes economic sabotage.
Section 7 mandates that the maximum penalty shall be imposed if the illegally recruited person is less than eighteen (18) years of age or if committed by a non-licensee or non-holder of authority.

Restrictions on officials and venue

Section 8 prohibits unlawful engagement, directly or indirectly, in the business of recruiting migrant workers by any official or employee of the Department of Labor and Employment, POEA, OWWA, Department of Foreign Affairs, or other government agencies involved in implementing the Act, and by their relatives within the fourth civil degree of consanguinity or affinity.
Section 8 provides that the penalties in Section 7 apply to covered officials and employees who violate Section 8.
Section 9 provides venue rules for illegal recruitment criminal actions filed with the Regional Trial Court of the province or city where the offense was committed or where the offended party actually resides at the time of commission.
Section 9 states that the court where the criminal action is first filed acquires jurisdiction to the exclusion of other courts.
Section 9 directs that the venue rule also applies to criminal actions already filed at the time of effectivity of the Act.

Claims, procedures, deadlines, prescription

Section 10 grants Labor Arbiters of the NLRC original and exclusive jurisdiction over claims arising from an employer-employee relationship or by virtue of any law or contract involving Filipino workers for overseas deployment, including claims for actual, moral, exemplary and other forms of damages.
Section 10 requires Labor Arbiters to decide within ninety (90) calendar days after the filing of the complaint.
Section 10 imposes joint and several liability on both the principal/employer and the recruitment/placement agency for all claims under Section 10.
Section 10 requires that the overseas employment contract incorporate this joint and several liability rule as a condition precedent for approval.
Section 10 provides that the recruitment/placement agency’s performance bond must answer for all money claims or damages awarded to workers.
Section 10 imposes joint and solidary liability on corporate officers and directors and partners (as the case may be) when the recruitment/placement agency is a juridical entity.
Section 10 provides that liabilities continue during the entire duration of the employment contract and are not affected by any substitution, amendment or modification made locally or abroad.
Section 10 requires that any compromise/amicable settlement or voluntary agreement on money claims inclusive of damages be paid within four (4) months from approval by the appropriate authority.
Section 10 provides that when overseas employment is terminated without just, valid or authorized cause, the worker is entitled to full reimbursement of the placement fee with 12% per annum interest, plus salaries for the unexpired portion of the employment contract or for three (3) months for every year of the unexpired term, whichever is less.
Section 10 provides penalties for noncompliance with mandatory resolution periods: withholding the salary of a responsible official who fails to render a decision or resolution within the prescribed period until compliance; suspension for not more than ninety (90) days; or dismissal with disqualification to hold any appointive public office for five (5) years.
Section 10 states the penalties do not prejudice any other liability under other laws or rules from violating the mandatory-resolution paragraph.
Section 11 requires that preliminary investigations under the Act be terminated within thirty (30) calendar days from filing.
Section 11 requires that if the preliminary investigation is conducted by a prosecution officer and a prima facie case is established, the corresponding information must be filed in court within twenty-four (24) hours from termination of the investigation.
Section 11 requires that if the preliminary investigation is conducted by a judge and a prima facie case is found to exist, the proper prosecution officer must file the information within forty-eight (48) hours from receipt of the records.
Section 12 provides prescription for illegal recruitment cases under the Act of five (5) years.
Section 12 provides that illegal recruitment cases involving economic sabotage prescribe in twenty (20) years.

Free legal assistance and witness protection

Section 13 requires creation within the Department of Labor and Employment (including regional offices) of a mechanism for free legal assistance for victims of illegal recruitment.
Section 13 requires coordination and cooperation under the free legal assistance mechanism with the Department of Justice, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, and other non-governmental organizations and volunteer groups.
Section 13 entitles any person who is a victim of illegal recruitment to the Witness Protection Program under Republic Act No. 6981, notwithstanding that law to the contrary.

Anti-fraud services, repatriation, and centers

Section 14 requires embassies and consular offices, through POEA, to issue travel advisories or disseminate information on labor and employment conditions, migration realities, other facts, and adherence of particular countries to international standards on human and workers’ rights.
Section 14 requires publication of such advisories/information in a newspaper of general circulation at least three (3) times in every quarter.
Section 15 makes repatriation of the worker and transport of personal belongings the primary responsibility of the agency that recruited or deployed the worker, with all repatriation costs borne by or charged to the agency concerned and/or its principal.
Section 15 makes repatriation of remains and transport of personal belongings of a deceased worker the responsibility of the principal and/or local agency, with all costs borne by them.
Section 15 relieves the principal/employer or agency from repatriation responsibility when termination of employment is due solely to the fault of the worker.
Section 15 mandates that OWWA, in coordination with appropriate international agencies, undertake repatriation 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.
Section 15 directs that when the principal or recruitment agency cannot be identified, repatriation costs are borne by OWWA.
Section 15 creates an emergency repatriation fund under OWWA administration and control, initially PHP 100,000,000, taken from an existing OWWA-controlled fund.
Section 15 requires that thereafter the fund be provided in the General Appropriations Act year to year, with appropriation in no case less than PHP 100,000,000, inclusive of outstanding balances.
Section 16 requires responsible officers in foreign service, upon discovery or being informed of underage migrant workers whose actual ages fall below the minimum age requirement for overseas deployment, to repatriate them without delay and advise the Department of Foreign Affairs through the fastest available means, including relevant information.
Section 17 creates a Re-placement and Monitoring Center in the Department of Labor and Employment for returning Filipino migrant workers to reintegrate into Philippine society, promote local employment, and tap skills for national development.
Section 17 requires the Department of Labor and Employment, OWWA, and POEA to formulate a program within ninety (90) days from effectivity to motivate planning for productive options such as highly technical jobs, livelihood and entrepreneurial development, better wage employment, and investment of savings.
Section 17 requires priority in training and livelihood support for returnees who had been employed as domestic helpers and entertainers, via TESDA, TLRC, and other involved government agencies.
Section 18 grants the Center duties to: develop livelihood programs in coordination with the private sector; coordinate with appropriate agencies for promotion and full utilization of potentials; institute a computer-based information system on skilled Filipino migrant workers accessible to local recruitment agencies and employers (public and private); provide periodic study and assessment of job opportunities; and develop and implement other appropriate welfare-promoting programs.
Section 19 requires establishment, within the premises and under administrative jurisdiction of the Philippine Embassy in countries with large concentrations of Filipino migrant workers, of a Migrant Workers and Other Overseas Filipinos Resource Center.
Section 19 requires the Resource Center to provide: counseling and legal services; welfare assistance including procurement of medical and hospitalization services; information/advisory and social integration programs including post-arrival orientation, settlement and community networking; a registration scheme for undocumented workers with a required registration period within six (6) months from effectivity with the consequence that failure to register results in passport cancellation; human resource development; gender sensitive programs for women migrant workers’ needs; orientation programs for returning workers and other migrants; and monitoring of daily situations affecting migrant workers and other overseas Filipinos.
Section 19 requires the Resource Center to operate as a joint undertaking of various government agencies, open twenty-four (24) hours daily including Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
Section 19 provides staffing requirements for foreign service personnel and other government-representative personnel abroad, and allows volunteers and bona fide non-government organizations where available.
Section 19 requires that in countries categorized as highly problematic by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Department of Labor and Employment, the government must provide a lawyer and a social worker for the Center.
Section 19 requires the Labor Attache to coordinate the Center’s operation and keep the Chief of Mission informed and updated.
Section 19 requires a counterpart 24-hour information and assistance center at the Department of Foreign Affairs to maintain a continuous network.

Shared information and human rights enforcement

Section 20 requires creation of an inter-agency committee to implement a shared government information system for migration.
Section 20 lists committee members as: Department of Foreign Affairs and its attached agency, Commission on Filipinos Overseas, Department of Labor and Employment, POEA, Department of Tourism, Department of Justice, Bureau of Immigration, National Bureau of Investigation, and National Statistics Office.
Section 20 requires the committee’s first phase to make available to itself information contained in existing data bases/files.
Section 20 requires the second phase to link computer facilities to allow free-flow data exchange and sharing among concerned agencies.
Section 20 requires the committee to convene to identify existing data bases to be declassified and shared among member agencies.
Section 20 mandates shared data bases to initially include masterlists of migrant workers/overseas Filipinos classified by occupation/job category, civil status, and country/state of destination including visa classification; inventory of pending legal cases; masterlists of departing/arriving Filipinos; statistical profiles; blacklisted foreigners/undesirable aliens; basic data on legal systems and immigration policies and marriage and civil and criminal codes in receiving countries with large numbers of Filipinos; lists of labor and other human rights instruments where receiving countries are signatories; a tracking system of past and present gender-disaggregated cases; and listings of overseas posts able to render assistance.
Section 22 mandates DFA initiatives to promote acceptance/adherence by receiving countries to multilateral convention, declaration or resolutions on migrant workers’ rights.
Section 22 mandates DFA assessment of international and regional human rights avenues and redress available to Filipino migrant worker victims.
Section 22 authorizes DFA, through the Legal Assistant for Migrant Workers Affairs created under the Act, to pursue such avenues on behalf of victims when legally impossible for victims to file individual complaints.
Section 22 requires that if complaint machinery exists in international or regional systems, DFA fully apprise Filipino migrant workers of the existence and effectiveness of those legal options.

Loan guarantee, DFA priorities, and enforcement structure

Section 21 requires OWWA, in coordination with government financial institutions, to institute financing schemes expanding pre-departure loan and family assistance loan grants.
Section 21 creates a Migrant Workers Loan Guarantee Fund as a guarantee fund set aside from OWWA’s revolving amount of PHP 100,000,000 for participating government financial institutions.
Section 23 assigns DFA the priority action or representation with the foreign authority concerned to protect migrant workers’ rights and extend immediate assistance, including repatriation of distressed or beleaguered migrant workers and overseas Filipinos.
Section 23 requires the Department of Labor and Employment to ensure fair application of labor and social welfare laws in foreign countries to migrant workers, and where applicable, other overseas Filipinos, including legal assistance referral and referral to proper medical centers or hospitals.
Section 23 requires POEA, subject to deregulation and phase-out provisions, to regulate private sector participation in recruitment and overseas placement by setting up a licensing and registration system.
Section 23 requires POEA to formulate and implement, in coordination with appropriate entities, systems for promoting and monitoring overseas employment considering welfare and domestic manpower requirements.
Section 23 requires the OWWA welfare officer or coordinating officer to provide migrant workers and their families assistance in enforcing contractual obligations by agencies/entities and principals, and to make representations and call conferences or conciliation meetings to settle complaints or problems brought to attention.

Legal Assistant and Legal Assistance Fund

Section 24 creates the position of Legal Assistant for Migrant Workers Affairs under the Department of Foreign Affairs responsible for providing and coordinating legal assistance services to Filipino migrant workers and overseas Filipinos in distress.
Section 24 provides that the Legal Assistant’s rank, salary and privileges equal those of an undersecretary of the DFA.
Section 24 requires Presidential appointment of the Legal Assistant, and requires proven competence in law with at least ten (10) years experience as a legal practitioner, and prohibits candidacy to an elective office in the last local or national elections.
Section 24 requires the Legal Assistant to issue guidelines, procedures and criteria for providing legal assistance.
Section 24 requires the Legal Assistant to establish close linkages with DOLE, POEA, OWWA, other agencies, and NGOs to ensure effective coordination.
Section 24 requires the Legal Assistant to tap reputable law firms and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines and other bar associations to complement government legal assistance.
Section 24 requires the Legal Assistant to administer the legal assistance fund and authorize disbursements for the fund’s purposes.
Section 24 requires the Legal Assistant to keep and maintain the information system in Section 20.
Section 24 authorizes the Legal Assistant to hire private lawyers, domestic or foreign, to assist in discharging the functions.
Section 25 creates a Legal Assistance Fund in the amount of PHP 100,000,000 with specified funding sources: PHP 50,000,000 from the Contingency Fund of the President; PHP 30,000,000 from the Presidential Social Fund; and PHP 20,000,000 from the Welfare Fund for Overseas Workers established under Letter of Instruction No. 537, as amended by Presidential Decree Nos. 1694 and 1809.
Section 25 requires that balances of existing government funds set aside specifically for legal assistance or defense of migrant workers be turned over and become part of the Fund upon effectivity of the Act.
Section 26 mandates that the Legal Assistance Fund be used exclusively to provide legal services to migrant workers and overseas Filipinos in distress under guidelines, criteria and procedures issued under Section 24(a).
Section 26 provides that expenditures may include fees for foreign lawyers representing workers facing charges abroad, bail bonds for temporary release of detained workers, court fees and charges, and other litigation expenses.

Foreign service mode, planning, scholarships, and fees

Section 27 mandates the country-team approach under Executive Order No. 74, series of 1993 as the mode for Philippine embassies and their personnel to protect migrant workers and promote their welfare.
Section 27 requires that protection of migrant workers and their welfare, and protection of the dignity and fundamental rights and freedoms of Filipinos abroad, be the highest priority concerns of the Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Philippine Foreign Service Posts.
Section 28 requires that under the country-team approach, all officers and personnel of the Philippine government posted abroad act as one country-team per country under the ambassador’s leadership.
Section 28 empowers the ambassador to recommend recall of officers, representatives and personnel posted abroad for acts inimical to the national interest, including failure to provide necessary services to protect rights of overseas Filipinos.
Section 28 requires the DFA Secretary to endorse such recommendation to the appropriate department Secretary for action in the case of personnel from other departments, pending investigation; it also allows placement under preventive suspension by the ambassador pending investigation.
Section 28 requires Philippine consulates in host countries to constitute part of the country-team under the ambassador’s leadership.
Section 28 requires full support and information for visiting Philippine delegations in implementation of the approach.
Section 29 requires DOLE, within one (1) year from effectivity, to formulate a five-year comprehensive deregulation plan on recruitment activities, taking into account labor market trends, economic conditions, and emerging circumstances affecting migrant workers’ welfare.
Section 30 requires DOLE, within five (5) years from effectivity, to phase out POEA’s regulatory functions in pursuit of deregulation objectives.
Section 31 requires the government to provide proper and adequate incentives and programs to encourage participation and contribution of professionals and other highly-skilled Filipinos abroad, especially in science and technology, to priority development areas.
Section 32 provides that the POEA and OWWA Boards each add three (3) members from women, sea-based and land-based sectors respectively, appointed by the President in the same manner as other members.
Section 33 requires the DFA and DOLE to submit semi-annual reports to Congress on the implementation of the policy in Section 4, including: masterlists and pending legal cases; working conditions; problems/violations of rights; initiatives/actions; changes in host-country laws and policies; and status of negotiations on bilateral labor agreements.
Section 33 imposes administrative penalty for officers who fail to report as required.
Section 34 requires appointment of two (2) sectoral representatives for migrant workers in the House of Representatives by the President from ranks of migrant workers.
Section 34 requires that at least one (1) of the two representatives comes from the women migrant workers sector.
Section 34 requires nominees to have at least two (2) years experience as a migrant worker.
Section 35 exempts migrant workers from payment of travel tax and airport fee upon proper showing of proof of entitlement by POEA.
Section 36 provides that upon approval of the Act, all fees charged by any government office on migrant workers remain at current levels and the repatriation bond is abolished.
Section 37 creates a Congressional Migrant Workers Scholarship Fund benefiting deserving migrant workers and/or their immediate descendants below twenty-one (21) years of age who intend to pursue courses or training primarily in science and technology.
Section 37 sets the initial seed fund at PHP 200,000,000, with PHP 50,000,000 from the unexpended Countrywide Development Fund for 1995 equally shared by all Members of Congress, and the remaining PHP 150,000,000 from proceeds of Lotto draws.
Section 37 mandates that the scholarship fund be administered by DOLE in coordination with DOST, and requires DOLE and DOST to formulate necessary rules and regulations.
Section 38 provides that necessary amounts to carry out the Act shall be provided in the General Appropriations Act of the