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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.
AT A GLANCE:
The second Sunday of January of every year is declared as the “Unknown Citizens’ Day” by virtue of Commonwealth Act No. 152 (C.A. No. 152).
Commonwealth Act No. 152, or the Act to Declare the Second Sunday of January of Every Year [as the] “Unknown Citizens’ Day” in Honor or All Unknown Patriotic Filipino Citizens, was enacted on November 9, 1936.
The law says:
“The Second Sunday of January of every year shall be known as the “Unknown Citizens’ Day” in honor of the rank and file of Filipinos who, in their humble ways, industriously labor for the uplift, progress and advancement of their country, fulfilling unselfishly their duties and obligations as Filipino citizens.” (Section 1, Commonwealth Act No. 152)
Since the enactment of Commonwealth Act No. 152 in 1936, the State has committed to enacting legislation to protect and enhance the right of the Filipino people to human dignity, creation of economic opportunities and measures of labor protection.
The 1987 Constitution provides:
“The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and unorganized, and promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all.
It shall guarantee the rights of all workers to self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiations, and peaceful concerted activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law. They shall be entitled to security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage. They shall also participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as may be provided by law.
The State shall promote the principle of shared responsibility between workers and employers and the preferential use of voluntary modes in settling disputes, including conciliation, and shall enforce their mutual compliance therewith to foster industrial peace.
The State shall regulate the relations between workers and employers, recognizing the right of labor to its just share in the fruits of production and the right of enterprises to reasonable returns to investments, and to expansion and growth.” (Section 3, Article XIII, 1987 Constitution)
In the case of Richard Wahing, et al. v. Spouses Amador Daguio and Esing Daguio (G.R. No. 219755, April 18, 2022), the Supreme Court held that:
“Affording protection to labor and construing doubt in favor of the laborer are not only statutorily required under the Labor Code, but are also consistent with the social justice suppositions underlying labor laws”
As explained by the Supreme Court in the same case:
“Our laws on labor, foremost of which is the Labor Code, are pieces of social legislation. They have been adopted pursuant to the constitutional recognition of labor as a primary social economic force and to the constitutional mandates for the state to protect the rights of workers and promote their welfare and for Congress to give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all the people to human dignity, and reduce social, economic, and political inequalities.
They are means for effecting social justice, i.e., the humanization of laws and the equalization of social and economic forces by the State so that justice in the rational and objectively secular conception may at least be approximated.” (Richard Wahing, et al. v. Spouses Amador Daguio and Esing Daguio, G.R. No. 219755, April 18, 2022)
Alburo Alburo and Associates Law Offices specializes in business law and labor law consulting. For inquiries regarding taxation and taxpayer’s remedies, you may reach us at info@alburolaw.com, or dial us at (02)7745-4391/0917-5772207.
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