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

Sixteenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSE BILL NO.3858

Introduced by:

GABRIELA Women's Party Representatives Luzviminda C. llagan and Emerenciana A. De Jesus

EXPLANATORY NOTE

Since embarking on exporting our surplus labor in the 1970s untl this date, illegal recruitment cases pile up
in the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Due to the increasing prices of goods, social services
and utliies, Filpinos 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-earned 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 many, to a greater number of
Fillpinos, that dream has tumed into a nightmare because of the bane of illegal recruitment. Most of abused
OFWs were illegally-recruited women workers, according to DOLE

With neoliberal globalization and the perpetuation of conditions for cheap labor, illegal recruitment has in
fact become a transnational crime. 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

Laws providing for stifer penalties for illegal recruitment and special agencies for focused enforcement
such as the branch in the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) that specialized on
investigating and prosecuting illegal recruitment cases have provided some relief. POEA investigators

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work with the Anti-lllegal Recruitment Unit of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and in 2008, the
Presidential Task Force against Illegal Recruitment (PTFAIR) was created.

Unfortunately, despite stiffer Penalties and the existence of Specialized enforcement agencies, cases of
illegal recruitment have continued to rise. The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration does not

And so the problem remains, and many ilegal recruiters have escaped punishment due mainly to
in ycuesstul prosecution. There are several factors for his and according to Migrante Intemational, among
ine factors bearing heavily on unsuccessful prosecution of illegal recruiters is the, sed state of case
Overload of our courts, This has resulted in cases taking an average of three to five years 10 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’. The denial of justice from delayed resolution causes
rear vtims of ilegal recrutment to fal nto tral fatigue and disengage from the case or surrender vo the
{Emptation of settlement and move on to new employment opportunities thereby releasing the perpetrators
back to business.

1 satis Spec problem area of law enforcement against ilegal recruitment that this bil seeks to address
| 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, Il is premised upon the idea of strengthening the pillars of law enforcement specific to illegal
‘count, realizing that the initiatives made good in the legisatve (increasing the penalties) and the
executive (creation of focused enforcement agencies) must be complemented inthe judieel arene,

|" pursuance ofthe constitutional mandate that ‘fall persons shall have the righ to a speedy disposition of
their cases... this bill authorizes the Supreme Court to designate special courts fram among the existing
{eglonal tral cours in each julcial region to try and hear cases involving ilegal recruitment, amending for
the purpose Republic Act No. 8042, otherwise known as the ‘Migrant Workers and Ovorsece, Filpino Act of
1995", as amended

Hopefully, 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

‘The PTFAIR became defunct on December 2010 Given its two year lifespan but it was reactivated on May
2011 by President Noynoy Aquino,

‘POEA counts only those cases filed in court afer preliminary investigation; illegal recruitment cases that
do not reach the court are not counted.

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In view ofthe foregoing, the authors ofthis bil eamestly seek its approval

Lecips a Coal.
LUZV{MINDA C. ILAGAN EMERENCIANA A. DE JESUS
Gabriela Women’s Party Representative Gabriela Women’s Party Representative

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

Sixteenth Congress
First Regular Session

HOUSEEILL NO. 3858

Introduced by:

GABRIELA Women's Party Representatives Luzviminda C. llagan and Emerenciana A. De Jesus

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.

(a) 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:

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(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 ant: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 additonal
allowances as may be determined by the POEA Administrator.

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 aws, 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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