TAMPENGCO, MICHAEL ALERICK B.
LABOR LAW REVIEW 2020-2021
REPORT
ILLEGAL RECRUITMENT
LICENSE & AUTHORITY
Report on Illegal Recruitment
Definition:
Recruitment and Placement: refers to any act of canvassing, enlisting, contracting, transporting, utilizing,
hiring or procuring workers, and includes referrals, contract services, promising or advertising for
employment, locally or abroad, whether for profit or not: Provided, That any person or entity which, in any
manner, offers or promises for a fee, employment to two or more persons shall be deemed engaged in
recruitment and placement (Art. 13).
Private fee-charging employment agency: Any person or entity engaged in recruitment and placement of
workers for a fee which is charged, directly or indirectly, from the workers or employers or both (Art. 13).
Private recruitment entity: Any person or association engaged in the recruitment and placement of
workers, locally or overseas, without charging, directly or indirectly, any fee from the workers or employers
(Art. 13).
License: A document issued by the Department of Labor authorizing a person or entity to operate a private
employment agency (Art. 13).
Authority: A document issued by the Department of Labor authorizing a person or association to engage in
recruitment and placement activities as a private recruitment entity.
Illegal Recruitment
Definition:
Any recruitment activities, including the prohibited practices enumerated under Article 34 of this Code, to be
undertaken by non-licensees or non-holders of authority, shall be deemed illegal and punishable under
Article 39 of this Code. The Department of Labor and Employment or any law enforcement officer may
initiate complaints under this Article (Art. 38).
Republic Act 8042 As amended by R.A. 10022
"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.
Prohibited Practices
Article 34
It shall be unlawful for any individual, entity, licensee, or holder of authority:
- 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, or to make a worker pay any amount greater than that
actually received by him as a loan or advance;
- To furnish or publish any false notice or information or document in relation to recruitment or employment;
- 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 this Code.
- To induce or attempt to induce a worker already employed to quit his employment in order to offer him to
another unless the transfer is designed to liberate the worker from oppressive terms and conditions of
employment;
- To influence or to attempt to influence any person or entity not to employ any worker who has not applied
for employment through his agency;
- 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;
- To obstruct or attempt to obstruct inspection by the Secretary of Labor or by his duly authorized
representatives;
- To fail to file 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.
- To substitute or alter employment contracts approved and verified by the Department of Labor from the
time of actual signing thereof by the parties up to and including the periods of expiration of the same without
the approval of the Secretary of Labor;
- 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 a travel agency; and
-To withhold or deny travel documents from applicant workers before departure for monetary or financial
considerations other than those authorized under this Code and its implementing rules and regulations.
What constitutes Recruitment and placement?
It refers to any act of :
1.Canvassing
2.Enlisting
3.Contracting
4.Transporting
5.Utilizing
6.Hiring, or
7.Procuring workers
Includes:
1.Referrals,
2.Contract Services,
3.Promising, or
4.Advertising for employment, locally or abroad, whether for profit or not
TAKE NOTE:
Any person or entity which, in any manner, offers or promises for a fee employment to two or more
persons shall be deemed engaged in recruitment and placement. (Art. 13 (b), Labor Code).
G.R. Nos. L-58674-77 July 11, 1990
PEOPLE OF THE PHILIPPINES, petitioner,
vs.
HON. DOMINGO PANIS, Presiding Judge of the Court of First Instance of Zambales & Olongapo
City, Branch III and SERAPIO ABUG, respondents.
ISSUE:
Whether dealing with 2 or more persons is an indispensable requirement to establish recruitement and
placement as defined under Art 13(b)
FACTS:
1.Four informations were filed on January 9, 1981 in CFI Zambales alleging that Serapio Abug, a
private responded, "without first securing a license from the Ministry of Labor as a holder of authority to
operate a fee-charging employment agency, did then and there wilfully, unlawfully and criminally operate a
private fee charging employment agency by charging fees and expenses (from) and promising employment
in Saudi Arabia" to four separate individuals named therein, in violation of Article 16 in relation to Article 39
of the Labor Code.
2.Respondent filed a motion to quash on the ground that the information did not charge an offense
because he was accused of illegally recruiting only one person in each of the four information. The
proviso under Art. 13 (b) provides that there is illegal recruitment only “whenever two or more persons
are in any manner promised or offered any employment for a fee.”
HELD: Neither interpretation is acceptable
We fail to see why the proviso should speak only of an offer or promise of employment if the purpose was to
apply the requirement of two or more persons to all the acts mentioned in the basic rule. For its part, the
petitioner does not explain why dealings with two or more persons are needed where the recruitment and
placement consists of an offer or promise of employment but not when it is done through "canvassing,
enlisting, contracting, transporting, utilizing, hiring or procuring (of) workers.
As we see it, the proviso was intended neither to impose a condition on the basic rule nor to
provide an exception thereto but merely to create a presumption. The presumption is that the
individual or entity is engaged in recruitment and placement whenever he or it is dealing with two
or more persons to whom, in consideration of a fee, an offer or promise of employment is made in
the course of the "canvassing, enlisting, contracting, transporting, utilizing, hiring or procuring (of)
workers. "
The number of persons dealt with is not an essential ingredient of the act of recruitment and
placement of workers. Any of the acts mentioned in the basic rule in Article 13(b) will constitute
recruitment and placement even if only one prospective worker is involved. The proviso merely lays
down a rule of evidence that where a fee is collected in consideration of a promise or offer of
employment to two or more prospective workers, the individual or entity dealing with them shall be
deemed to be engaged in the act of recruitment and placement. The words "shall be deemed" create that
presumption.
WHEREFORE, the Orders of June 24, 1981, and September 17, 1981, are set aside and the four
informations against the private respondent reinstated. No costs.
LICENSE AND AUTHORITY
Definition:
License: is a document issued by DOLE authorizing a person or entity to operate a private employment
agency. A license is given for a private employment agency which is also authorized to collect fees.
Authority: Is a document issued by DOLE authorizing a person or association to engage in recruitment
and placement activities as a private recruitment agency. An authority does not entitle a private
recruitement entity to collect fees.
