ChanRobles Publishing Company

PREFACE
to the 2009 Fourth Revised Edition

 

The publication of this fourth (4th) edition becomes imperative in the light of the significant amendments to the Labor Code introduced by several new laws such as Republic Act No. 9492 [An Act Rationalizing the Celebration of National Holidays Amending for thie Purpose Section 26, Chapter 7, Book I of Executive Order No. 292, as Amended, Otherwise Known as the “Administrative Code of 1987”] which was approved on July 25, 2007; Republic Act No. 9481 [An Act Strengthening the Workers’Constitutional Right to Self-Organization, Amending for the Purpose Presidential Decree No. 442, as Amended, Otherwise Known as the Labor Code of the Philippines] which lapsed into law on May 25, 2007 and became effective on June 14, 2007; Republic Act No. 9422 [An Act to Strengthen the Regulatory Functions of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), Amending for this Purpose Republic Act No. 8042, Otherwise Known as the “Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act of 1995”] which was approved on April 10, 2007: and Republic Act No. 9347 [An Act Rationalizing the Composition and Functions of the National Labor Relations Commission, Amending for this Purpose Articles 213, 214, 215 and 216 of P. D. No. 442, as Amended, Otherwise Known as the Labor Code of the Philippines] which also lapsed into law on July 27, 2006 without the signature of the President, in accordance with Article VI, Section 27 [1] of the Constitution.

New pieces of jurisprudence have also been promulgated by the Supreme Court which significantly affect the prevailing well-settled rules in labor law.  All these are treated in the author’s Notes and Comments on the various articles of the Labor Code. 

This latest edition is dedicated to the memory of the late Blas F. Ople who graciously wrote the Foreword to this book in 1996. I cannot repay the precious time he gave up to go over the manuscript of its first edition. Indeed, I am bound in lasting gratitude.

 

Joselito Guianan Chan
Chan Robles Law Firm
22/F, Philippine Stock Exchange Centre
East Tower, Exchange Road
Ortigas Center
Pasig City
Metro Manila
Philippines

January 01, 2009

 

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PREFACE 
Third Revised Edition, 2005
 
 

This third edition comes on the 9th year since the first was published in 1996.  More than 5,000 copies have been printed and distributed of this hardbound version.  Its digitized CD adaptation has likewise elicited similar enthusiasm from students, practitioners and clients when it was released also in 1996 – at a time when the internet age was just at its gestation stage. This book, in fact, was the first to be in digitized form in the Philippines at that time.

Since its last revision in 2000, a number of significant statutes affecting labor law have been enacted.  Important decisions changing certain well-ensconced doctrines have likewise been enunciated by the Supreme Court, most noteworthy of which is the Agabon rule which was promulgated in November, 2004.

Additionally, several major issuances have been made by the President and the other agencies of government tasked to implement and enforce labor laws.  For instance, the President has issued Executive Order No. 204 on May 05, 2005 delegating to the Secretary of Labor and Employment the power to exercise administrative supervision over the NLRC. The Secretary of Labor and Employment, for her part, has also promulgated several edicts, most notable of which is Department Order No. 40-03 in 2003 amending the implementing rules of Book V of the Labor Code.  For its part, the NLRC has changed its rules in 2002 and the NCMB has revised its procedural guidelines in the conduct of voluntary arbitration proceedings in late 2004. 

All these exciting developments in the law and jurisprudence are reflected in this book and in the other volume by the same author entitled The Labor Code of the Philippines Annotated, Volume I [Labor Standards and Social Legislation], 2006 edition. This and the other volume are being released in two formats – one, in hardbound, and the other, in digitized form - to accommodate those who are more conversant with the latter format.

This latest edition is dedicated to the memory of the late Blas F. Ople, the Father of the Labor Code, who graciously wrote the Foreword to this book in 1996.  I cannot repay the precious time he gave up to go over the manuscript of its first edition. Indeed, I am bound in lasting gratitude.

J. G. C.
Chan Robles Law Firm
Philippine Stock Exchange Centre
Exchange Road
Ortigas Center
Pasig City
Metro Manila

September 09, 2005