Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila
EN BANC
G.R. No. 170139 August 5, 2014
SAMEER OVERSEAS PLACEMENT AGENCY, INC., Petitioner,
vs.
JOY C. CABILES, Respondent.
CONCURRING AND DISSENTING OPINION
BRION, J.:
I concur with the ponencia's conclusion that respondent Joy C. Cabiles was illegally dismissed for lack of valid cause and due process.
I likewise concur with the conclusion that Section 10 of Republic Act (R.A.) No. 8042 (Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipino Act of 1995),1 as reinstated by R.A. No. 10022,2 is unconstitutional in so far as it provides that:
In case of termination of overseas employment without just, valid or authorized cause as defined by law or contract, the workers shall be entitled to the full reimbursement of his placement fee with interest of twelve (12%) per annum, plus his salaries for the unexpired portion of his employment contract or for three (3) months for every year of the unexpired term, whichever is less. [Emphasis and italics ours]
My conclusion on the constitutionality of the above-quoted clause (subject clause) of Section 10, R.A. No. 8042, however, proceeds from a different reason and constitutional basis. I maintain the view that the subject clause should be struck down for violation of the constitutional provisions in favor of labor, under Section 3, Article XIII, and of the substantive aspect of the due process clause, under Section 1, Article III.
Thus, I take exception to the ponencia's full adoption of the ruling in Serrano v. Gallant Maritime Services, Inc., et al.3 to the extent that it applies the strict scrutiny standard in invoking the equal protection guarantee. To my mind, the circumstances of this case do not justify the ponencia's approach of extending and expanding the use of the strict scrutiny standard in invalidating the subject clause (as reinstated in R.A. No. 8042 by R.A. No. 10022). The conclusion that the subject clause created a "suspect" classification is simply misplaced.
The approach, sadly, only unnecessarily shifted the burden to the government, to prove: (1) a compelling state interest; and (2) that the legislation is narrowly tailored to achieve the intended result. It also unnecessarily undermines the presumed constitutionality of statutes and of the respect that the Court accords to the acts of a co-equal branch. The differential or rational basis scrutiny, i.e., where the challenged classification needs only be shown to be rationally related to serving a legitimate state interest, would have undoubtedly served the purpose without bringing these unnecessary implications.
As I maintain the same view and legal reasoning, and if only to emphasize my position in the present case, I quote below portions of my Concurring Opinion in Serrano v. Gallant Maritime Services, Inc., et al. (Serrano Opinion)4 rejecting the validity of using the strict scrutiny standard to test the validity of the subject clause under the equal protection guarantee. I invoke the same legal reasoning as basis, mutatis mutandis, of my stance in the present case.
A suspect classification is one where distinctions are made based on the most invidious bases for classification that violate the most basic human rights, i.e.,on the basis of race, national origin, alien status, religious affiliation, and to a certain extent, sex and sexual orientation. With a suspect classification, the scrutiny of the classification is raised to its highest level: the ordinary presumption of constitutionality is reversed and government carries the burden of proving that its challenged policy is constitutional. To withstand strict scrutiny, the government must show that its policy is necessary to achieve a compelling state interest; if this is proven, the state must then demonstrate that the legislation is narrowly tailored toachieve the intended result.
In the present case, I do not see the slightest indication that Congress actually intended to classify OFWs– between and among themselves, and in relation with local workers – whenit adopted the disputed portion of Section 10. The congressional intent was to merely grant recruitment and manning agencies an incentive and thereby encourage them into greater deployment efforts, although, as discussed above, the incentive really works for the foreign principals’ benefit at the expense of the OFWs.
Even assuming that a classification resulted from the law, the classification should not immediately be characterized as a suspect classification that would invite the application of the strict scrutiny standard. The disputed portion of Section 10 does not, on its face, restrict or curtail the civil and human rights of any single group of OFWs. At best, the disputed portion limits the monetary award for wrongful termination of employment – a tort situation affecting an OFW’s economic interest. This characterization and the unintended classification that unwittingly results from the incentive scheme under Section 10, to my mind, render a strict scrutiny disproportionate to the circumstancesto which it is applied. I believe, too, that we should tread lightly in further expanding the concept of suspect classification after we have done so in Central Bank, where we held that classifications that result in prejudice to persons accorded special protection by the Constitution requires a stricter judicial scrutiny. The use of a suspect classification label cannot depend solely on whether the Constitution has accorded special protection to a specified sector. While the Constitution specially mentions labor as a sector that needs specialprotection, the involvement of or relationship to labor, by itself, cannot automatically trigger a suspect classification and the accompanying strict scrutiny; much should depend on the circumstances of the case, on the impact of the illegal differential treatment on the sector involved, on the needed protection, and on the impact of recognizing a suspect classification on future situations. In other words, we should carefully calibrate our moves when faced with an equal protection situation so that we do not misappreciatethe essence of what a suspect classification is, and thereby lessen its jurisprudential impact and value. Reserving this approach to the worst cases of unacceptable classification and discrimination highlights the importance of striking at these types of unequal treatment and is a lesson that will not be lost on all concerned, particularly the larger public. There is the added reason, too, that the reverse onus that a strict scrutiny brings directly strikes, in the most glaring manner, atthe regularity of the performance of functions of a co-equal branch of government; inter-government harmony and courtesy demand that we reserve this type of treatment to the worst violations of the Constitution.
Incidentally, I believe that we can arrive at the same conclusion and similarly strike down the disputed Section 10 by using the lowest level of scrutiny, thereby rendering the use of the strict scrutiny unnecessary.Given the OSG’s positions, the resulting differential treatment the law fosters between Philippine-based workers and OFWs in illegal dismissal situations does not reston substantial distinctions that are germane to the purpose of the law. No reasonable basis for classification exists since the distinctions the OSG pointed out do not justify the different treatment of OFWs and Philippine-based workers, specifically, why one class should be excepted from the consequences of illegal termination under the Labor Code, while the other is not.
To be sure, the difference in work locations and working conditions that the OSG pointed out are not valid grounds for distinctions that should matter in the enforcement of employment contracts. Whether in the Philippines or elsewhere, the integrity of contracts – be they labor, commercial or political – is a zealously guarded value that we in the Philippines should not demean by allowing a breach of OFW contracts easy to undertake. This istrue whatever may be the duration or character of employment; employment contracts, whatever their term and conditions may be subject only to their consistency with the law, must be respected during the whole contracted term and under the conditions agreed upon.
Significantly, the OSG could not even point to any reason other than the protection of recruitment agencies and the expansion of the Philippine overseas program as justification for the limitation of liability that has effectively distinguished OFWs from locally-based workers. These reasons, unfortunately, are not on the same plane as protection to labor in our constitutional hierarchy of values. Even RA 8042 repeats that "the State does not promote overseas employment as a means to sustain economic growth and national development." Under RA 8042’s own terms, the overseas employment program exists only for OFW protection. Thus viewed, the expansion of the Philippine overseas deployment program and the need for incentives to achieve results are simply not valid reasons tojustify a classification, particularly when the incentive is in the form of oppressive and confiscatory limitation of liability detrimental to labor. No valid basis for classification thus exists to justify the differential treatment that resulted from the disputed Section 10.5
In this regard, I likewise reiterate my reasons and explanation for striking down the subject clause on the ground that it violates the constitutional provisions in favor oflabor and the substantive aspect of the due process clause.
For proper perspective, I quote below the pertinent constitutional provision that secures a special statusand treatment in favor of labor.
Article XIII
x x x x
Section 18. The State shall afford full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and unorganized, and promote full employment and equality of employmentopportunities 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.
This constitutional protection afforded to labor articulates in clearer and more concrete terms the constitutional policy under Section 18, Article II that declares and affirms labor as a primary social economic force aimed at protecting the rights of workers and promoting their welfare.
On the other hand, R.A. No. 8042 provides, among others:
(b) 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. Towards this end, the State shall provide adequate and timely social, economic and legal services to Filipino migrant workers.
x x x x
(e) Free access to the courts and quasi-judicial bodies and adequate legal assistance shall not be denied to any person by reason of poverty. In this regard, it is imperative that an effective mechanism be instituted to ensure that the rights and interests of distressed overseas Filipinos, in general, and Filipino migrant workers, in particular, documented or undocumented, are adequately protected and safeguarded.
Under these terms, R.A.No. 8042 is discernibly a piece of social legislation that the State enacted in the exercise of its police power, precisely to give teeth and arms to the constitutional provisions on labor under its aim to "establish a higher standard of protection and promotion of the welfare of migrant worker, their families and of overseas Filipinos in distress."6 Otherwise stated, it draws power and life from the constitutional provisions that it seeks to concretize and implement.
As I pointed out in my Serrano Opinion, "the express policy declarations of R.A. No. 8042 show thatits purposes are reiterations of the very same policies enshrined in the Constitution x x x [They] patently characterize R.A. No. 8042 as a directimplementation of the constitutional objectives on Filipino overseas work so that it must be read and understood in terms of these policy objectives. Under this interpretative guide, any provision in R.A. No. 8042 inimical to the interest of an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) cannot have any place in the law."7 [Underscoring supplied]
Note also (again, as I reflected in my Serrano Opinion) that while R.A. No. 8042 acknowledges that the State shall "promote full employment,"it likewise provides that "the State does not promote overseas employment as a means to sustain economic growth and national development. The existence of overseas employment program rests solely on the assurance that the dignity and fundamental human rights and freedom of Filipino citizens shall not, at any time, be compromised and violated."8 The Act, however, concludes its Declaration of Policies by stating that "[n]onetheless, the deployment of Filipino overseas workers, whether landbased or sea-based, by local service contractors and manning agencies employing them shall be encouraged.Appropriate incentives may be extended to them."9 [Underscoring supplied] Thus, the Act recognizes that to encourage greater deployment efforts, "incentives" can be given, BUT, to service contractors and manning agencies ONLY.10 Contractors’ and agencies’ principals,i.e., the foreign employers in whose behalf the contractors and agencies recruit OFWs are not among those to whom incentives can be given as they are not mentioned at all in the Act.11
Of particular importance to the present case is Section 10 of R.A. No. 8042 which governs the OFWs’ money claims.12 Pursuant to its terms, the Act obviously protects the OFW as against the employer and the recruitment agency in cases of unlawful termination of service. Unfortunately, it limits the liability to the "reimbursement of the placement fee and interest, and the payment of his salaries for the unexpired portion of his employment contract or for three (3) months for every year of the unexpired term, whichever is less."13
This limitation is a step backward as it imposes a cap on the liability of the foreign principal/employer and the contractor/recruitment agency even as it earlier declared their liability joint and solidary.14 To be an "appropriate incentive," this limitation of liability can only be justified under the terms of the law, i.e., "the incentive must necessarily relate to the law’s purpose with reasonable expectation that it would serve this purpose; it must also accrue to its intended beneficiaries (the recruitment/placement agencies), and not to parties to whom the reason for the grant does not apply."15
Viewed in this light, the subject clause can only pass constitutional muster if it shows: (1) a lawful purpose; and (2) lawful means to achieve the lawful purpose.
On the lawful purpose requirement, the policy of extending incentives to local service contractors and manning agencies to encourage greater efforts at securing work for OFWs is, undeniably, constitutionally valid. There is nothing inherently unconstitutional in providing such incentives for not only are local service contractors and manning agencies significant stakeholders in the government’s overseas employment program;16 the Constitution itself also expressly recognizes "the right of labor to its just share inthe fruits of production and the right to reasonable returns on investments, and expansion and growth."17 [Underscoring supplied]
On the lawful means requirement, i.e., whether the means employed to achieve the purpose of encouraging recruitment efforts (through the incentive granted of limiting the liabilityof recruitment/manning agencies for illegal dismissals) is reasonable, the subject clause obviously fails.
First, as I pointed out in my Serrano Opinion, Section 10 of R.A. No. 8042 provides measures that collectively protect OFWs, i.e.,by ensuring the integrity of their contracts; by establishing the responsible parties; and by providing the mechanisms for their enforcement that imposes direct and primary liability to the foreign principal employer.18 Yet, Section 10 presents a hidden twist affecting the principal/employer’s liability. As worded, the Act "simply limits the OFWs’ recovery in wrongful dismissal situations. Thus, it redounds to the benefit of whoever may be liable, including the principal/employer – the direct employer primarily liable for the wrongful dismissal."19
From this perspective, Section 10 actually limits what is otherwise the foreign principal/employer’s full liability under the Act and exceeds what the Act intended – to grant incentivesto recruitment/manning agencies.20 "Section 10, in short, really operates to benefit the wrong party and allows that party, without justifiable reason, to mitigate its liability for wrongful dismissals."21 [Emphasis supplied] "Because of this hidden twist, the limitation of liability under Section 10 cannot be an "appropriate" incentive."22 [Underscoring supplied] Second, the chosen mode of granting the incentive, i.e., the liability limitation for wrongful dismissals of already deployed OFWs, effectively imposed, with legal sanction, a partial condonation of the foreign principal/employer’s liability to OFWs.23 The incentive, therefore, "from a more practical and realistic view, is really part of a scheme to sell Filipino overseas labor at a bargainfor purposes solely of attracting the market,"24 a scheme that sadly reduces our OFW s to mere cash cows.1âwphi1
And third, the "incentive scheme" effectively benefits the recruitment/manning agencies and foreign principal/employer at the expense of the OFWs from whom the salaries for the unexpired portion of the contract are taken and to whom these salaries rightfully belong.25 In effect, "the principals/employers and the recruitment/manning agencies profit from their violation of the security of tenure that an employment contract embodies."26 The OFWs, on the other hand, are afforded lesser protection because: (1) they are afforded reduced recovery by operation of law; (2) the reduced recovery renders wrongful dismissal situations more alluring, easier to facilitate and less onerous to undertake which foreign employers will most certainly consider in termination of employment decisions.27
These inimical effects obviously will remain as long as the subject clause remains in Section 10 of R.A. No. 8042, this time as reinstated by R.A. No. 10022. The "inherently oppressive, arbitrary, confiscatory and inimical provision [under Section 10 of R.A. No. 8042 should, therefore,] be struck down for its conflict with the substantive aspect of the constitutional due process guarantee.28 Thus, I vote to declare as unconstitutional the phrase "for three (3) months for every year of the unexpired terms, whichever is less" in the fifth and final paragraph of Section 10 of R.A. 8042."
In sum, given these considerations and conclusions, further testing the validity of the assailed clause under the equal protection guarantee, particularly under the strict scrutiny standard that the ponencia in the present case deemed appropriate to employ, is clearly unnecessary.
ARTURO D. BRION
Associate Justice
Footnotes
1 Enacted on June 7, 1995.
2 Enacted on July 8. 2010.
3 G.R. No. 167614, 60 I Phil. 245 (2009).
4 Id. at 312-324.
5 Id. at 322-324; italics and emphasis supplied, citations omitted.
6 The long title of R.A. No. 8042.
7 Supra note 2, at 313-314.
8 Id. at 314.
9 Id.
10 Supra note 2, at 314.
11 Id.
12 Section 10 of R.A. No. 8042 pertinently reads:
SECTION 10. Money Claims. — Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, the Labor Arbiters of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) shall have the original and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and decide, within ninety (90) calendar days after the filing of the complaint, the claims arising out of an employeremployee relationship or by virtue of any law or contract involving Filipino workers for overseas deployment including claims for actual, moral, exemplary and other forms of damages.
The liability of the principal/employer and the recruitment/placement agency for any and all claims under this section shall be joint and several. This provision shall be incorporated in the contractfor overseas employment and shall be a condition precedent for its approval. The performance bond to be filed by the recruitment/placement agency, as provided by law, shall be answerable for all money claims or damages that may be awarded to the workers. If the recruitment/placement agencyis a juridical being, the corporate officers and directors and partnersas the case may be, shall themselves be jointly and solidarily liable with the corporation or partnership for the aforesaid claims and damages.
Such liabilities shall continue during the entire period or duration of the employment contract and shall not be affected by any substitution, amendment or modification made locally or in a foreign country of the said contract.
Any compromise/amicable settlement or voluntary agreement on money claims inclusive of damages under this section shall be paid within four (4) months from the approval of the settlement by the appropriate authority.
In case of termination of overseas employment without just, valid or authorized cause as defined by law or contract, the worker shall be entitled to the full reimbursement of his placement fee with interest at twelve percent (12%) per annum, plus his salaries for the unexpired portion of his employment contract or for three (3) months for every year of the unexpired term, whichever is less.
13 Supra note 2, at 316.
14 Id.
15 Id.
16 Supranote 2, at 317.
17 Id.
18 Supranote 2, at 319.
19 Id. at 320.
20 Id. at 320.
21 Id. at 320.
22 Id.
23 Supranote 2, at 320.
24 Id.
25 Id. at 320.
26 Id. at 320-321.
27 Id. at 321.
28 Id.
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