LASHERAS, MARRY ROSE S.

20140118985

PRINCESS TALENT CENTER PRODUCTION, INC., AND/OR LUCHI SINGH

MOLDES vs DESIREE T. MASAGCA
G.R. No. 191310 APRIL 11, 2018

FACTS

Masagca auditioned for a singing contest at ABC-Channel 5 when a talent manager approached
her to discuss her show business potential. Respondent went to the office of petitioner PTCPI
and the latter persuaded respondent to apply for a job as a singer/entertainer in South Korea. An
Employment Contract was executed between respondent and petitioner PTCPI as the Philippine
agent of SAENCO, the Korean principal/promoter. Respondent left for South Korea and worked
there as a singer for nine months, until her repatriation to the Philippines because of illegal or
immoral activities. Thereafter, respondent filed a complaint against petitioners and SAENCO for
illegal dismissal.

ISSUE

Was Masagca illegally dismissed?

LAW INVOLVED

Article XIII, Section 3 of Constitution- Right to Security of Tenure

CASE HISTORY

 Labor Arbiter rendered a Decision dismissing respondent's complaint.

 NLRC ruled in respondent's favor.
 CA held that respondent was dismissed from employment without just cause and without
procedural due process.

RULING

Yes, Masagca was illegally dismissed. The Constitutional guarantee of security of tenure
extends to Filipino overseas contract workers as the Court declared in Sameer Overseas
Placement Agency, Inc. v. Cabiles. Established is the rule that lex loci contractus (the law of
the place where the contract is made) governs in this jurisdiction. There is no question that the
contract of employment in this case was perfected here in the Philippines. Therefore, the Labor
Code, its implementing rules and regulations, and other laws affecting labor apply in this case.
Furthermore, settled is the rule that the courts of the forum will not enforce any foreign claim
obnoxious to the forum's public policy. Here in the Philippines, employment agreements are
more than contractual in nature. Since respondent's Employment Contract was executed in the
Philippines, Philippine Constitution and labor laws governed respondent's employment with
petitioners and SAENCO. An employee's right to security of tenure, protected by the
Constitution and statutes, means that no employee shall be dismissed unless there are just or
authorized causes and only after compliance with procedural and substantive due process. A
lawful dismissal by an employer must meet both substantive and procedural requirements; in
fine, the dismissal must be for a just or authorized cause and must comply with the rudimentary
due process of notice and hearing.
 OPINION

I register my concurrence with the ponencia which ruled that Masagca was illegally
dismissed.

It is interesting to note that Lex Loci Doctrine or the doctrine of the law of the place
where the contract is made -promotes protection of labor, particularly those engaged in domestic
work abroad or outside the Philippine territory. The book of James Audley McLaughlin entitled
"Conflict of Laws: The Choice of Law Lex Loci Doctrine, the Beguiling Appeal of a Dead
Tradition" traced that this doctrine rooted in nineteenth century legal conceptualism. Thus, it is
still well-settled doctrine because of its apparent certainty. Wherein the binding obligations
called contract duties and the correlative contract rights created and used the law of the place
where the contract is made. Furthermore, United States Supreme Court quoted former Chief
Justice John Marshall's "principle of universal law" that "a contract is governed by the law with a
view to which it was made." Indeed, the doctrine of Lex Loci in addition to the Constitutional
Guarantee to protection of labors specifically the right to security of tenure is an effective
method to protect and give assurance to our overseas workers in terms of their working life with
foreigner employers.

However, Overseas Filipino Workers (OFWs) sector has been the primary source of the
country's resiliency. As what Henry Paulson, an American banker who served as the 74th United
States Secretary of the Treasury from 2006 to 2009, said "Regulation needs to catch up with
innovation,” hence the State also needs to innovate or come up with new or flexible policies that
will help its citizen not to go abroad just because they need a livelihood. It is not enough that you
only come up with laws or guidelines to protect them from being harmed in another state but also
the state needs a policy that will boost its citizen moral and living standard in this country not
through other countries so that they would not need to go abroad in order to sustained their
living.