DOLE CLARIFIES

APPRENTICESHIP

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) today clarified that the
apprenticeship period is more than three months but not over six months in accordance
with DOLE Circular No. 2, Series of 2006.
Labor and Employment Secretary Arturo D. Brion said that DOLE Circular No. 2
amended certain provision of Department Order No. 68-04, series of 2004, which
provided for the implementing guidelines in the implementation of the Kasanayan at
Hanapbuhay (KASH) program.
D.O. 68-04 stated that “the apprenticeship period shall not be less than four months but
not more than six months.”
DOLE Circular No. 2, on the other hand, provides that the apprenticeship period shall
be for a period of more than three months but not over six months. It also states that the
employer has the option to employ the apprentice even before the completion of the
apprenticeship period.
Brion clarified that the circular did not categorically reduce the minimum period of
apprenticeship training from four months to three months as reported earlier.
He said that contrary to the previous Department Order, DOLE Circular No. 2 expressly
specified what have been provided for by the Labor Code of the Philippines.
The Labor Chief said that Article 58(c) of Book II Title II of the Labor Code defines “an
apprenticeship occupation as any trade, form of employment or occupation which
requires more than three months of practical training on the job supplemented by
related theoretical instruction.”
DOLE Circular No. 2 is consistent with the Labor Code, Brion said.