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Republic of the Philippines RECEIVED
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES >
Quezon City, Metro Manila

Seventeenth Congress
First Regular Session

2resTRATON UNIT
SAND INDEX SERVICE

HOUSE BILL NO. 1792

Introduced by:
GABRIELA Women’s Party Reps. Emmi A. De Jesus and Arlene D. Brosas

EXPLANATORY NOTE

‘Since embarking on exporting our surplus labor in the 1970s unti this date, illegal recruitment cases pile up
in the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Due to the increasing prices of goods and even
social services such as education, Filipinos search for more high-paying and sustainable jobs that can meet
the expenses of their families.

Becoming an overseas worker entails incalculable sacrifices. The story of Filipinos working abroad has
been a narrative of hard-eamed assets pawned or sold, promising careers left behind, fathers or mothers
alienated from their children, children growing up without parents, and individuals lost in alien lands and
culture. While those sacrifices have resulted in a ‘dream come true’ to some, to a greater number of
Filipinos, that dream has tumed into a nightmare because of the bane of illegal recruitment. tllegal
recruitment is the mother of the abuses of our OFWs abroad and, according to DOLE, the majority of
abused OFWs are illegally-recruited women workers.

With the easing of national borders to overseas employment brought about by globalization, illegal
recruitment has in fact become a transnational crime. There are stil illegal recruiters that operate as solitary
individuals but, in the main, the field has been taken over by highly-organized syndicates which are
enjoying the veil of corporate legitimacy as placement or travel agencies with extensive networks of
accomplice or accessories here and abroad, They have taken advantage of the government's liberalization
of the economy which has turned the recruitment industry, as with other industries, into a highly
deregulated playing field, allowing illegal recruiters to weave in and out of the interstices of the "free
market.” The blinding development of communication and information technology has also enabled illegal
recruiters to become highly mobile as to make detection and apprehension difficult for the authorities

The government had responded to this situation by enacting laws providing for stiffer penalties for illegal
recruitment and by creating special agencies for focused enforcement. It created a branch in the Philippine
Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) that specialized on investigating and prosecuting illegal
recruitment cases. POEA investigators work hand in hand with the Anti-llegal Recruitment Unit of the
National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), In 2008, the enforcement was strengthened by the creation of the
Presidential Task Force against Illegal Recruitment (PTFAIR)."

Unfortunately, despite stiffer penalties and the existence of specialized enforcement agencies, cases of
illegal recruitment have continued to rise. The POEA does not have any figure on the national accumulated

2 The PTFAIR became defunct on December 2010 given its two-year lifespan but it was reactivated on May 2011 by President
Noynoy Aquino.

TATIVES

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number of illegal recruitment cases.? One may argue such absence as proof of POEA incompetence but it
could also be the tell-tale sign of a problem too complex for the POEA to handle. It is a situation best
described by Migrante International when it called illegal recruitment a "many-headed hydra”: you cut a
head today and two or three heads will rise tomorrow.

In this respect, one problematic area that comes to view is that many illegal recruiters have escaped
punishment because of unsuccessful prosecution. There are several factors for this and not all of these
need fo be elaborated here. Suffice it to say, according to Migrante International, among the factors bearing
heavily on unsuccessful prosecution of illegal recruiters is the sad state of case overload of our courts. This
has resulted in cases taking an average of three to five years to resolve, excluding the period of appeal,
contravening the ninety (90) days the Constitution prescribes for deciding cases.

As the maxim goes, ‘justice delayed is justice denied’. In this instance, however, the denial of justice
‘comes not only from delayed resolution but also from the fact that many victims of ilegal recruitment fall
into trial fatigue and would just disengage from the case without a trace. Others simply surrender to the
temptation of settlement, releasing the perpetrators back to business

Itis this specific problem area of law enforcement against illegal recruitment that this bill seeks to address.
It draws from the experience and insights of existing specially-designated judicial forums, such as the
special agrarian courts and juvenile courts that have provided our citizens the ready attention for specific
‘cases. It is premised upon the idea of strengthening the pillars of law enforcement specific to illegal
recruitment, realizing that the initiatives made good in the legislative (increasing the penalties) and the
executive (creation of focused enforcement agencies) must be complemented in the judicial arena,

In pursuance of the constitutional mandate that [al persons shall have the right to a speedy disposition of
their cases...”, this bill authorizes the Supreme Court to designate special courts from among the existing
regional trial courts in each judicial region to try and hear cases involving illegal recruitment, amending for
the purpose Republic Act No. 8042, otherwise known as the “Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act of
1995", as amended

It is hoped that the designation of special courts for illegal recruitment will result in speedy, if not speedier,
disposition of cases and more successful prosecution of illegal recruiters within the constitutionally.
prescribed period of 90 days.

In view of the foregoing, the authors of this bill earnestly seek its immediate approval.

Mone

L om
EMMI A. DE JESUS NE. BROSAS
Gabriela Women's Party Representative Gabrigla Women's Party Representative

2 POEA counts only those cases fied in court after preliminary investigation; illegal recruitment cases that do not reach the court
are not counted.

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Republic of the Philippines
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Quezon City, Metro Manila

Seventeenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILLNO. 4792

Introduced by:
GABRIELA Women's Party Representatives Emmi A. De Jesus and Arlene D. Brosas

AN ACT AUTHORIZING THE SUPREME COURT
TO DESIGNATE SPECIAL COURTS FROM AMONG EXISTING
REGIONAL TRIAL COURTS IN EACH JUDICIAL REGION TO EXCLUSIVELY TRY AND HEAR CASES
INVOLVING ILLEGAL RECRUITMENT, AMENDING FOR THE PURPOSE REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8042,
OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE “MIGRANT WORKERS AND OVERSEAS FILIPINOS ACT OF 1995”,
AS AMENDED

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

SECTION 1. Section 6 of the Republic Act No. 8042, as amended, is hereby further amended to read as
follows:

Section 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

(2) Illegal 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) 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, show 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.

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THE SUPREME COURT SHALL DESIGNATE SPECIAL COURTS FROM AMONG THE
EXISTING REGIONAL TRIAL COURTS IN EACH JUDICIAL REGION TO EXCLUSIVELY
TRY AND HEAR CASES INVOLVING OFFENSES PUNISHABLE UNDER THIS
SECTION. THE NUMBER OF COURTS DESIGNATED IN EACH JUDICIAL REGION
SHALL BE BASED ON THE POPULATION AND THE NUMBER OF CASES PENDING IN
EACH JUDICIAL REGION.

THE PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION OF CASES FILED UNDER THIS ACT SHALL BE
TERMINATED WITHIN A PERIOD OF THIRTY (30) DAYS FROM THE DATE OF FILING.

WHEN THE PRELIMINARY INVESTIGATION IS CONDUCTED BY THE PROSECUTOR
AND PROBABLE CAUSE IS ESTABLISHED, THE CORRESPONDING INFORMATION
SHALL BE FILED IN COURT WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR (24) HOURS FROM THE DATE
OF RECEIPT OF THE RECORDS OF THE CASE,

THE TRIAL OF THE CASE UNDER THIS SECTION SHALL BE TERMINATED BY THE
COURT NOT LATER THAN NINETY (90) DAYS FROM THE COMMENCEMENT OF
TRIAL. JUDGMENT SHALL BE RENDERED WITHIN A PERIOD OF THIRTY (30) DAYS
FROM THE DATE THE CASE WAS SUBMITTED FOR DECISION.

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

SECTION 2. All laws, decrees, rules and regulations or parts thereof inconsistent with the provisions of this
Act are hereby repealed or modified accordingly.

SECTION 3. This Act shall take effect fifteen (15) days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in two
(2) national newspapers of general circulation

Approved,

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