ARTICLE II

1987 Philippine Constitution

ARTICLE II -DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES
AND STATE POLICIES

Section 14. The State recognizes the role of women

in nation-building, and shall ensure the fundamental
equality before the law of women and men.
Section 15. The State shall protect and promote the
right to health of the people and instill health
consciousness among them.

Section 9. The State shall promote a just and

dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity
and independence of the nation and free the people
from poverty through policies that provide adequate
social services, promote full employment, a rising
standard of living, and an improved quality of life for
all.
Section 10. The State shall promote social justice
in all phases of national development.
Section 11. The State values the dignity of every

Section 16. The State shall protect and advance the

right of the people to a balanced and healthful

human person and guarantees full respect for

ecology in accord with the rhythm and harmony of

human rights.

nature.

Section 12. The State recognizes the sanctity of

Section 17. The State shall give priority to

family life and shall protect and strengthen the

education, science and technology, arts, culture,

family as a basic autonomous social institution. It

and sports to foster patriotism and nationalism,

shall equally protect the life of the mother and the

accelerate social progress, and promote total

life of the unborn from conception. The natural and

human liberation and development.

primary right and duty of parents in the rearing of

the youth for civic efficiency and the development of

Section 18. The State affirms labor as a primary

moral character shall receive the support of the

social economic force. It shall protect the rights of

Government.

workers and promote their welfare.

Section 13. The State recognizes the vital role of

Section 19. The State shall develop a self-reliant

the youth in nation-building and shall promote and

protect their physical, moral, spiritual, intellectual,
and social well-being. It shall inculcate in the youth
patriotism and nationalism, and encourage their
involvement in public and civic affairs.

and independent national economy effectively

controlled by Filipinos.
Section 20. The State recognizes the indispensable
role of the private sector, encourages private
enterprise, and provides incentives to needed
investments.

Section 1. The Congress shall give highest priority

ARTICLE III-Bill of Rights

to the enactment of measures that protect and

Section 1. No person shall be deprived of life,

reduce social, economic, and political inequalities,

liberty, or property without due process of law, nor

shall any person be denied the equal protection of
the laws.
Section 4. No law shall be passed abridging the
freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press,
or the right of the people peaceably to assemble
and

petition

the

government

for

redress

of

grievances.
Section 7. The right of the people to information on
matters of public concern shall be recognized.

enhance the right of all the people to human dignity,

and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing
wealth and political power for the common good.
To this end, the State shall regulate the acquisition,
ownership, use, and disposition of property and its
increments.
Section 2. The promotion of social justice shall
include

the

commitment

decisions, as well as to government research data

used as basis for policy development, shall be
afforded the citizen, subject to such limitations as

create

economic

opportunities based on freedom of initiative and

self-reliance.

Access to official records, and to documents and

papers pertaining to official acts, transactions, or

to

LABOR
Section 3. The State shall afford full protection to
labor,

local

and

overseas,

organized

and

unorganized, and promote full employment and

may be provided by law.

equality of employment opportunities for all.

Section 8. The right of the people, including those

It shall guarantee the rights of all workers to self-

employed in the public and private sectors, to form

unions, associations, or societies for purposes not

organization, collective bargaining and negotiations,

and peaceful concerted activities, including the

contrary to law shall not be abridged.

right to strike in accordance with law. They shall be

Section 10. No law impairing the obligation of

work, and a living wage. They shall also participate

contracts shall be passed.

in policy and decision-making processes affecting

Section 16. All persons shall have the right to a

entitled to security of tenure, humane conditions of

their rights and benefits as may be provided by law.

speedy disposition of their cases before all judicial,

The State shall promote the principle of shared

quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies.

responsibility between workers and employers and

Section 18. (2) No involuntary servitude in any

form shall exist except as a punishment for a crime
whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.
ARTICLE XIII
SOCIAL JUSTICE AND HUMAN RIGHTS

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 13. The State shall establish a special
agency for disabled persons for their rehabilitation,
self-development,

and

self-reliance,

and

their

integration into the mainstream of society.

Fixed-Term Employment Contract

What is a fixed-term employment contract and
when is it considered valid? The Supreme Court
had occasion to tackle these questions in the case
of Cherry J. Price, et al. versus INNODATA
Phils. Inc., et al., (G.R. No. 178505), promulgated

WOMEN
Section 14. The State shall protect working women
by providing safe and healthful working conditions,
taking into account their maternal functions, and
such facilities and opportunities that will enhance
their welfare and enable them to realize their full
potential in the service of the nation.
CIVIL CODE
CHAPTER 2- HUMAN RELATIONS (n)
Art. 19. Every person must, in the exercise
of his rights and in the performance of his
duties, act with justice, give everyone his
due, and observe honesty and good faith.
SECTION 2. - Contract of Labor (n)
Art. 1700. The relations between capital
and labor are not merely contractual. They
are so impressed with public interest that
labor contracts must yield to the common
good. Therefore, such contracts are subject
to the special laws on labor unions, collective
bargaining, strikes and lockouts, closed shop,
wages, working conditions, hours of labor
and similar subjects.

on September 30, 2008.

Cherry, Stephanie and Lolita were employed as
formatters by INNODATA a domestic corporation
engaged in the data encoding and data conversion
business. The parties executed an employment
contract denominated as a Contract of
Employment for a Fixed Period, stipulating that the
contract shall be for a period of one year.
The days passed by and soon Cherry and her
companions found themselves separated from work
due to the end of their contract. Cherry and her
companions decided to contest the validity of said
contract by filing a case for illegal dismissal. The
case eventually reached the Supreme Court.
In the course of deciding the case the Court cited
Art. 280 of the Labor Code which states, The
provisions of written agreement to the contrary
notwithstanding and regardless of the oral
agreement of the parties, an employment shall be
deemed regular where the employee has been
engaged to perform activities which are usually
necessary or desirable in the usual business or
trade of the employer According the Court:
The employment status of a person is defined and
prescribed by law and not by what the parties say it

should be. Equally important to consider is that a

Under the Civil Code, fixed-term employment

contract of employment is impressed with public

contracts are not limited, as they are under the

interest such that labor contracts must yield to the

present Labor Code, to those by nature seasonal or

common good. Thus, provisions of applicable

for specific projects with predetermined dates of

statutes are deemed written into the contract, and

completion; they also include those to which the

the parties are not at liberty to insulate themselves

parties by free choice have assigned a specific date

and their relationships from the impact of labor laws

of termination.The decisive determinant in term

and regulations by simply contracting with each

employment is the day certain agreed upon by the

other.

parties for the commencement and termination of

It went on to say that, Under Article 280 of the

Labor Code the applicable test to determine
whether an employment should be considered

their employment relationship, a day certain being

understood to be that which much necessarily
come, although it may not be known when.

regular or non-regular is the reasonable connection

Does this mean that fixed-term employment

between the particular activity performed by the

contracts are always valid, provided they are

employee in relation to the usual business or trade

entered into knowingly and voluntarily? No. In the

of the employer.

case under consideration the Supreme Court

However, the High Court also pointed out that

employment which requires performance of usual
and desirable functions, and does not exceed one
year, does not always result in regular employment.
This is where the concept of fixed-term employment
comes in:

emphasized that fixed-term employment contracts

are the exception rather than the general rule, and
are valid only under certain circumstances. Citing
its earlier decision in Brent School v.
Zamora (G.R. No. 48494, 5 February 1990, 181
SCRA 702) the Court identified several
circumstances wherein a fixed-term is
anessential and natural appurtenance:
Some familiar examples may be cited of
employment contracts which may be neither for
seasonal work nor for specific projects, but to which
a fixed term is an essential and natural
appurtenance: overseas employment contracts, for
one, to which, whatever the nature of the
engagement, the concept of regular employment
with all that it implies does not appear ever to have
been applied, Article 280 of the Labor Code
notwithstanding; also appointments to the positions

of dean, assistant dean, college secretary,

where, from the circumstances, it is apparent that

principal, and other administrative offices in

the period was imposed to preclude the acquisition

educational institutions, which are by practice or

of tenurial security by the employee, then it should

tradition rotated among the faculty members, and

be struck down as being contrary to law, morals,

where fixed terms are a necessity without which no

good customs, public order and public policy.

reasonable rotation would be possible. Similarly,

despite the provisions of Article 280, Policy
Instructions No. 8 of the Minister of Labor implicitly
recognize that certain company officials may be
elected for what would amount to fixed periods, at
the expiration of which they would have to stand
down, in providing that these officials, x x may lose
their jobs as president, executive vice-president or
vice president, etc. because the stockholders or
the board of directors for one reason or another did
not reelect them.
The Court also mentioned the fact that in the
same Brent case, it issued a stern admonition that

To end the long story: Cherry and her companions

were considered by the Court as regular
employees; and as far as their fixed-term
employment contract was concerned, the Court had
this to say:
After considering petitioners contracts in their
entirety, as well as the circumstances surrounding
petitioners employment at INNODATA, the Court is
convinced that the terms fixed therein were meant
only to circumvent petitioners right to security of
tenure and are, therefore, invalid.
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