Court with the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City to declare as unconstitutional
Section 2, paragraph (g), Section 6, paragraphs (a) to (j), (l) and (m), Section 7,
paragraphs (a) and (b), and Sections 9 and 10 of the law, with a plea for the issuance of
a temporary restraining order and/or writ of preliminary injunction enjoining the
respondents therein from enforcing the assailed provisions of the law.
In a supplement to its petition, the ARCO-Phil. alleged that Rep. Act No. 8042 was
self-executory and that no implementing rules were needed. It prayed that the court
issue a temporary restraining order to enjoin the enforcement of Section 6, paragraphs
(a) to (m) on illegal recruitment, Section 7 on penalties for illegal recruitment, and
Section 9 on venue of criminal actions for illegal recruitments, viz:
Viewed in the light of the foregoing discussions, there appears to be urgent an
imperative need for this Honorable Court to maintain the status quo by enjoining the
implementation or effectivity of the questioned provisions of RA 8042, by way of a
restraining order otherwise, the member recruitment agencies of the petitioner will
suffer grave or irreparable damage or injury. With the effectivity of RA 8042, a great
majority of the duly licensed recruitment agencies have stopped or suspended their
operations for fear of being prosecuted under the provisions of a law that are unjust
and unconstitutional. This Honorable Court may take judicial notice of the fact that
processing of deployment papers of overseas workers for the past weeks have come to
a standstill at the POEA and this has affected thousands of workers everyday just
because of the enactment of RA 8042. Indeed, this has far reaching effects not only to
survival of the overseas manpower supply industry and the active participating
recruitment agencies, the country’s economy which has survived mainly due to the
dollar remittances of the overseas workers but more importantly, to the poor and the
needy who are in dire need of income-generating jobs which can only be obtained
from abroad. The loss or injury that the recruitment agencies will suffer will then be
immeasurable and irreparable. As of now, even foreign employers have already
reduced their manpower requirements from the Philippines due to their knowledge
that RA 8042 prejudiced and adversely affected the local recruitment agencies.
[3]
On August 1, 1995, the trial court issued a temporary restraining order effective for
a period of only twenty (20) days therefrom.
After the petitioners filed their comment on the petition, the ARCO-Phil. filed an
amended petition, the amendments consisting in the inclusion in the caption thereof
eleven (11) other corporations which it alleged were its members and which it
represented in the suit, and a plea for a temporary restraining order enjoining the
respondents from enforcing Section 6 subsection (i), Section 6 subsection (k) and
paragraphs 15 and 16 thereof, Section 8, Section 10, paragraphs 1 and 2, and Sections
11 and 40 of Rep. Act No. 8042.
The respondent ARCO-Phil. assailed Section 2(g) and (i), Section 6 subsection (a)
to (m), Section 7(a) to (b), and Section 10 paragraphs (1) and (2), quoted as follows: