Republic of the Philippines
House of Representatives

Quezon City, Metro Manila

Eighteenth Congress

First Regular Session

HOUSE BILLNO.__ 3540

Introduced by:

ACT-CIS Party Representative: Jocelyn P. Tulfo

EXPLANATORY NOTE

All laws punishing and criminalizing the act of illegal recruitment have in its core the protection
of the basic human rights of the Overseas Filipino Worker. This treatment is afforded to OFWs
as they are left vulnerable in the face of injustices being hundreds or thousands of miles away
from their home country. However, most protections now afforded to all OFWs against illegal
recruitment are limited to the stage of pre-deployment or control acts affecting the process of
getting deployed.

This bill seeks to afford greater protection to OFWs who are already abroad and are being
victimized not only by their employers but also by the agencies in the Philippines that swore to
protect them. It has come to this representative's attention that it is high time that illegal
recruitment be expanded to include the facilitation of abuse by foreign employers. Countless
OFWs come home irreparably damaged in all aspects of their well-being because of the slave-
like treatment they have experienced abroad which was woefully sustained by the inaction and
even active involvement of the agency which sent them abroad in exchange for, what most
workers, are their entire family’s fortunes.

The passage of this bill is not only sought but is urged to be recognized as a matter of national
emergency as there is an increase in the number of abused OFWs in the manner this bill seeks to
punish.

Hon. JocelyarPud T ‘ulfe Ca
ACT-CIS. pels Representati

Republic of the Philippines


House of Representatives
Quezon City, Metro Manila
Eighteenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILLNo.__ 1°40

Introduced by:

ACT-CIS Party Representatives: Jocelyn P. Tulfo

AN ACT EXPANDING THE DEFINITION OF ILLEGAL RECRUITMENT TO
INCLUDE POST-DEPARTURE ABANDONMENT OF OFW’S BY THEIR TRAVEL
RECRUITMENT AGENCIES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and the House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress
assembled:

Chapter I - Introductory Provisions

Section 1. SHORT TITLE - this act shall be known as “The act further amending R.A. No. 8042
to expand the definition of illegal recruitment to include Post Departure Abandonment”

Section 2. DECLARATION OF POLICIES —

a. Pursuant to the constitutional mandate to the protection of labor, whether local or
overseas, organized and unorganized, the State shall protect the rights of our Overseas
Filipino Workers while upholding the respective laws of their host nation.

b. The State recognizes the abuses done to our OFW’s done by their employers or agencies
after their deployment. Because of this the state shall see to the expansion of the
protection afforded to them in their work abroad. Mere distance from the Philippines
shall not devoid or limit the rights granted to our citizens working abroad.

c. In the pursuit to protect our OFW’s, Illegal recruitment must be expanded to ensure all
possible offenses committed towards our fellow citizens shall be punished. Thus, the
State shall strive to defend the rights of our people abroad.

d. The threat of Abandonment by agencies or employers alike are a real threat to the
security and safety of our OFW’s. As such, the State now wishes to extend its capability
to aid those who are victimized by such abandonment by giving the capacity to penalize
such infractions of our OFW’s rights.

Section 3. DEFINITIONS —
For the purposes of this act, the following terms shall mean:

a. Overseas Filipino Workers (OFW) refers to a person who is to be engaged, is engaged,
or has been engaged in a remunerated activity in a State or country of which the worker is
not a citizen. A “person to be engaged in a remunerated activity” refers to an applicant
worker who has been promised or assured employment overseas.

b. Post departure abandonment shall refer to any single act or series of acts which tend to
cause or actually cause any physical, mental, emotional, or psychological harm to the
OFW through acts of facilitating, concealing, or any other aid given to the employer or
counterpart agency to which the OFW is assigned.

Section 4. COVERAGE —


This bill shall cover all OFWs, Agencies relating to OFW employment, and employers of
OFW's.

Chapter II — Expanding the definition of Illegal Recruitment under
R.A. No. 8042, which was amended by R.A. No. 10022

SECTION 5. A new sub-paragraph “(0)” under Section 6 of R.A. No. 8042, as amended by R.A.
No. 10022. Section 6 of R.A. No. 8042 shall now read as follows:

"SEC. 6. Definition. - For purposes of this Act, illegal recruitment shall mean 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
non-licensee or non-holder of authority contemplated under Article 13(f) of
Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended, otherwise known as the Labor Code of
the Philippines: Provided, That any such non-licensee or non-holder who, in any
manner, offers or promises for a fee employment abroad to two or more persons
shall be deemed so engaged. It shall likewise include the following acts, whether
committed by any person, whether a non-licensee, non-holder, licensee or holder
of authority:

"(a) To charge or accept directly or indirectly any amount greater than that
specified in the schedule of allowable fees prescribed by the Secretary of Labor
and Employment, or to make a worker pay or acknowledge any amount greater
than that actually received by him as a loan or advance;

"(b) To furnish or publish any false notice or information or document in relation
to recruitment or employment;

"(c) To give any false notice, testimony, information or document or commit any
act of misrepresentation for the purpose of securing a license or authority under
the Labor Code, or for the purpose of documenting hired workers with the POEA,
which include the act of reprocessing workers through a job order that pertains to
nonexistent work, work different from the actual overseas work, or work with a
different employer whether registered or not with the POEA;

"(@) To include or attempt to induce a worker already employed to quit his
employment in order to offer him another unless the transfer is designed to
liberate a worker from oppressive terms and conditions of employment;

"(e) To influence or attempt to influence any person or entity not to employ any
worker who has not applied for employment through his agency or who has
formed, joined or supported, or has contacted or is supported by any union or
workers’ organization;

"(®) To engage in the recruitment or placement of workers in jobs harmful to
public health or morality or to the dignity of the Republic of the Philippines;

"(b) To fail to submit reports on the status of employment, placement vacancies,
remittance of foreign exchange earnings, separation from jobs, departures and
such other matters or information as may be required by the Secretary of Labor
and Employment;

"(@) To substitute or alter to the prejudice of the worker, employment contracts
approved and verified by the Department of Labor and Employment from the time
of actual signing thereof by the parties up to and including the period of the


expiration of the same without the approval of the Department of Labor and
Employment;

"@) For an officer or agent of a recruitment or placement agency to become an
officer or member of the Board of any corporation engaged in travel agency or to
be engaged directly or indirectly in the management of travel agency;

"(k) To withhold or deny travel documents from applicant workers before
departure for monetary or financial considerations, or for any other reasons, other
than those authorized under the Labor Code and its implementing rules and
regulations;

"() Failure to actually deploy a contracted worker without valid reason as
determined by the Department of Labor and Employment;

"(m) Failure to reimburse expenses incurred by the worker in connection with his
documentation and processing for purposes of deployment, in cases where the
deployment does not actually take place without the worker's fault. Illegal
recruitment when committed by a syndicate or in large scale shall be considered
an offense involving economic sabotage;

"() To allow a non-Filipino citizen to head or manage a licensed
recruitment/manning agency; and

“(0) Any single act or series of acts which tend to cause or actually cause any
physical, mental, emotional, or psychological harm to the OFW through acts of
facilitating, concealing, or any other aid given to the employer or counterpart
agency to which the OFW is assigned.”

"Lllegal recruitment is deemed committed by a syndicate if carried out by a group
of three (3) or more persons conspiring or confederating with one another. It is
deemed committed in large scale if committed against three (3) or more persons
individually or as a group.

"In addition to the acts enumerated above, it shall also be unlawful for any person
or entity to commit the following prohibited acts:

"(1) Grant a loan to an overseas Filipino worker with interest exceeding eight
percent (8%) per annum, which will be used for payment of legal and allowable
placement fees and make the migrant worker issue, either personally or through a
guarantor or accommodation party, postdated checks in relation to the said loan;

"(2) Impose a compulsory and exclusive arrangement whereby an overseas
Filipino worker is required to avail of a loan only from specifically designated
institutions, entities or persons;

"(3) Refuuse to condone or renegotiate a loan incurred by an overseas Filipino
worker after the latter's employment contract has been prematurely terminated
through no fault of his or her own;

"(4) Impose a compulsory and exclusive arrangement whereby an overseas
Filipino worker is required to undergo health examinations only from specifically
designated medical clinics, institutions, entities or persons, except in the case of a
seafarer whose medical examination cost is shouldered by the
principal/shipowner;



"(5) Impose a compulsory and exclusive arrangement whereby an overseas
Filipino worker is required to undergo training, seminar, instruction or schooling
of any kind only from specifically designated institutions, entities or persons,
except for recommendatory trainings mandated by principals/shipowners where
the latter shoulder the cost of such trainings:

"(6 For a suspended recruitment/manning agency to engage in any kind of
recruitment activity including the processing of pending workers’ applications:
and

"(7) For a recruitment/manning agency or a foreign principal/employer to pass on
the overseas Filipino worker or deduct from his or her salary the payment of the
cost of insurance fees, premium or other insurance related charges, as provided
under the compulsory worker's insurance coverage.

"The persons criminally liable for the above offenses are the principals,
accomplices and accessories. In case of juridical persons, the officers having
ownership, control, management or direction of their business who are
responsible for the commission of the offense and the responsible
employees/agents thereof shall be liable.

"In the filing of cases for illegal recruitment or any of the prohibited acts under
this section, the Secretary of Labor and Employment, the POEA Administrator or
their duly authorized representatives, or any aggrieved person may initiate the
corresponding criminal action with the appropriate office. For this purpose, the
affidavits and testimonies of operatives or personnel from the Department of
Labor and Employment, POEA and other law enforcement agencies who
witnessed the acts constituting the offense shall be sufficient to prosecute the
accused.

"In the prosecution of offenses punishable under this section, the public
prosecutors of the Department of Justice shall collaborate with the anti-illegal
recruitment branch of the POEA and, in certain cases, allow the POEA lawyers to
take the lead in the prosecution. The POEA lawyers who act as prosecutors in
such cases shall be entitled to receive additional allowances as may be determined
by the POEA Administrator.

"The filing of an offense punishable under this Act shall be without prejudice to
the filing of cases punishable under other existing laws, rules or regulations."


‘CHAPTER III - Miscellaneous Provisions
Section 6. SEPARABILITY CLAUSE —

Should any provision of this Act or any part thereof be declared invalid, the other provisions
insofar as they are separable from the invalid ones, shall remain in full force and effect.

Section 7. REPEALING CLAUSE —

All laws, orders, issuances, rules, and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with this Act
are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

Section 8 EFFECTIVITY —

This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its complete publication in at least two
newspapers of general circulation.

Approved.