Conference of Maritime Manning Agencies v.

POEA
Topic: Equal Protection

PARTIES:
 Petitioner: Conference of Maritime Manning Agencies, Inc. et. Al
 Respondents: Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
 
FACTS:
 Conference of Maritime Manning Agencies is an incorporated association of licensed
Filipino manning agencies which hire and recruit Filipino seafarers for and in behalf of
their foreign shipowner principals.
 Petitioners seeks to annul Resolution o. 1 (1994) of the Governing Board of the
POEA and POEA Memo Circular No. 5 on the grounds that:
a. The resolution and memo circular are violative of the equal protection and
non-impairment of the obligation of contracts clause of the constitution
 Defendants content that the petition is without merit and should be dismissed because
(a) the issuance of resolution and memo was a valid exercise of POEA’s rule-making
authority or power of subordinate legislation.
 
ISSUES/RULING:
1. W/N the POEA has rule-making powers.
a. YES. Executive Order No. 797 states that “The governing Board of the POEA
shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to govern the exercise of the
adjudicatory functions of the POEA.
b. Power of Subordinate Legislation — administrative bodies may implement
broad policies laid down in a statute by “filling in the details which the Congress
may not have the opportunity or competence to provide.
c. The principle of non-delegation of powers is applicable to all three branches f
the government but is especially important in the legislature.
d. The general rule is delegation of legislative power and non-delegation is the
exception. The increasing complexity of the task of government and the growing
inability of the legislature to cope directly with the myriad of problems demanding
its attention.
e. The POEA mandate referred t as providing the reasonable standard for the
exercise of its rule-making authority is found in Sec. 4 of EO 797 “the POEA shall
formulate and undertake in coordination where necessary with the appropriate
entities concerned, a systematic program for promoting and monitoring Filipino
employment overseas.”

2. W/N the Resolution and Memo are violate of the equal protection
a. No.
b. There can be no dispute about dissimilarities between land-based and sea-
based Filipino overseas workers in terms of, among other things, work
environment, safety, dangers and risks to life and limb.
c. Social Justice — the humanization of laws and equalization of social and
economic forces by the State o that justice in its rational and objectively secular
conception may at least be approximated.
 2. W/N the Memo and Resolution violate the non-impairment of contracts clauses
a. No. The constitutional prohibition against impairing contractual obligations is
not absolute and is not to be read with literal exactness.
b. It is restricted to contrast with respect to property or some object of value and
which confer rights that may be asserted in a court of justice.
c. It has no application to statutes relating to public subjects within the domain
off the general legislative powers of the statue and involving public rights and
public welfare.
d. The freedom to contract is not absolute; all contracts and all rights are subject
to the police power of the state.
 
JUDGMENT:
Petition is DISMISSED for lack of merit.