Published — August 25, 2022
The following post does not create a lawyer-client relationship between Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices (or any of its lawyers) and the reader. It is still best for you to engage the services of your own lawyer to address your legal concerns, if any.
Also, the matters contained in the following were written in accordance with the law, rules, and jurisprudence prevailing at the time of writing and posting, and do not include any future developments on the subject matter under discussion.
After reading “What are the modes of committing illegal recruitment?”, read also “How is illegal recruitment committed?”
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Any non-licensee or non-holder of authority, who in any manner, offers or promises for a fee employment abroad to two (2) or more persons shall be deemed so as engaged in illegal recruitment.
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Under the prevailing law, there are three modes of committing illegal recruitment:
1) illegal recruitment per se, as defined in the first paragraph of Section 6 of R.A. No. 8042;
2) illegal recruitment practices, as listed [(a) to (m)] in the same provision; and
3) prohibited practices amounting to illegal recruitment as numerically listed, still in Section 6 of R.A. No. 8042. -
Illegal recruitment per se can only be committed by non-licensees or non-holders of authority.
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Illegal recruitment practices and prohibited practices amounting to illegal recruitment maybe committed by any person or entity, regardless of recruitment licensing status.
Republic Act No. 8042 or the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act provides that any non-licensee or non-holder of authority, who in any manner, offers or promises for a fee employment abroad to two (2) or more persons shall be deemed so as engaged in illegal recruitment. (Section 6, R.A. No. 8042)
Under the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act, a non-licensee or non-holder of authority commits illegal recruitment for overseas employment in two ways:
(1) by 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; and
(2) by undertaking any of the acts enumerated under Section 6 of R.A. No. 8042. On the other hand, a licensee or holder of authority is also liable for illegal recruitment for overseas employment when he or she undertakes any of the thirteen acts or practices [(a) to (m)] listed under Section 6 of the law.
The law says:
Section 6 of the Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act or R.A. No. 8042 provides for the definition of illegal recruitment, to wit:
Sec. 6. DEFINITIONS. – For purposes of this Act, illegal recruitment shall mean any act of canvassing, enlisting, contracting, transporting, utilizing, hiring, procuring workers and includes referring, contact services, promising or advertising for employment abroad, whether for profit or not, when undertaken by a non-license 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 such non-license 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 persons, whether a non-licensee, non-holder, licensee or holder of authority.
(a) To charge or accept directly or indirectly any amount greater than the specified in the schedule of allowable fees prescribed by the Secretary of Labor and Employment, or to make a worker pay 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;
(d) To induce 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 persons or entity not to employ any worker who has not applied for employment through his agency;
(f) To engage in the recruitment of placement of workers in jobs harmful to public health or morality or to dignity of the Republic of the Philippines;
(g) To obstruct or attempt to obstruct inspection by the Secretary of Labor and Employment or by his duly authorized representative;
(h) To fail to submit reports on the status of employment, placement vacancies, remittances of foreign exchange earnings, separations from jobs, departures and such other matters or information as may be required by the Secretary of Labor and Employment;
(i) 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;
(j) 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 on indirectly in the management of a travel agency;
(k) To withhold or deny travel documents from applicant workers before departure for monetary or financial considerations other than those authorized under the Labor Code and its implementing rules and regulations;
(l) Failure to actually deploy without valid reasons as determined by the Department of Labor and Employment; and
(m) Failure to reimburse expenses incurred by the workers 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 as offense involving economic sabotage.
Illegal recruitment is deemed committed by a syndicate 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.
The persons criminally liable for the above offenses are the principals, accomplices and accessories. In case of juridical persons, the officers having control, management or direction of their business shall be liable.
Jurisprudence says:
In the case of Toston v. People of the Philippines (G.R. No. 232049, March 03, 2021), the Supreme Court ruled that:
“Under the prevailing law, there are three modes of committing illegal recruitment:
1) illegal recruitment per se, as defined in the first paragraph of Section 6 of R.A. No. 8042;
2) illegal recruitment practices, as listed [(a) to (m)] in the same provision; and
3) prohibited practices amounting to illegal recruitment as numerically listed, still in Section 6 of R.A. No. 8042.
Illegal recruitment per se can only be committed by non-licensees or non-holders of authority; while illegal recruitment practices and prohibited practices amounting to illegal recruitment maybe committed by any person or entity, regardless of recruitment licensing status.”
Any and all activities constituting recruitment under the Labor Code, when undertaken by non-licensee and/or non-holders of authority are illegal per se, for the law requires a license, or authority to engage in recruitment.
Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/0917-5772207.
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