thereto. Under Section 5, Rule 58 of the Rules of Court, it was incumbent on the
petitioners, as respondents in the RTC, to show cause why no injunction should
issue. It avers that the injunction bond posted by the respondent was more than
adequate to answer for any injury or damage the petitioners may suffer, if any, by
reason of the writ of preliminary injunction issued by the RTC. In any event, the
assailed provisions of Rep. Act No. 8042 exposed its members to the immediate and
irreparable damage of being deprived of their right to a livelihood without due process, a
property right protected under the Constitution.
The respondent contends that the commendable purpose of the law to eradicate
illegal recruiters should not be done at the expense and to the prejudice of licensed and
authorized recruitment agencies. The writ of preliminary injunction was necessitated by
the great number of duly licensed recruitment agencies that had stopped or suspended
their business operations for fear that their officers and employees would be indicted
and prosecuted under the assailed oppressive penal provisions of the law, and meted
excessive penalties. The respondent, likewise, urges that the Court should take judicial
notice that the processing of deployment papers of overseas workers have come to a
virtual standstill at the POEA.
The Court’s Ruling
The petition is meritorious.
The Respondent Has Locus Standi
To File the Petition in the RTC in
Representation of the Eleven
Licensed and Registered
Recruitment Agencies Impleaded
in the Amended Petition
The modern view is that an association has standing to complain of injuries to its
members. This view fuses the legal identity of an association with that of its
members.[16] An association has standing to file suit for its workers despite its lack of
direct interest if its members are affected by the action. An organization has standing to
assert the concerns of its constituents.[17]
In Telecommunications and Broadcast Attorneys of the Philippines v. Commission
on Elections,[18] we held that standing jus tertii would be recognized only if it can be
shown that the party suing has some substantial relation to the third party, or that the
right of the third party would be diluted unless the party in court is allowed to espouse
the third party’s constitutional claims.
In this case, the respondent filed the petition for declaratory relief under Rule 64 of
the Rules of Court for and in behalf of its eleven (11) licensed and registered
recruitment agencies which are its members, and which approved separate resolutions