8/20/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly The liability of the principal/employer and the recruitment/placement agency for any and all claims under this section shall be joint and several. This provision shall be incorporated in the contract for overseas employment and shall be a condition precedent for its approval. The performance bond to be filed by the recruitment/placement agency, as provided by law, shall be answerable for all money claims or damages that may be awarded to the workers. If the recruitment/placement agency is a juridical being, the corporate officers and directors and partners as the case may be, shall themselves be jointly and solidarily liable with the corporation or partnership for the aforesaid claims and damages. Such liabilities shall continue during the entire period or duration of the employment contract and shall not be affected by any substitution, amendment or modification made locally or in a foreign country of the said contract. x x x (Emphasis supplied) [46] See Sameer Overseas Placement Agency, Inc. v. Cabiles, 740 Phil. 403, 445 (2014), wherein the Court elucidated on this point further, to wit: "[i]n overseas employment, the filing of money claims against the foreign employer is attended by practical and legal complications. The distance of the foreign employer alone makes it difficult for an overseas worker to reach it and make it liable for violations of the Labor Code. There are also possible conflict of laws, jurisdictional issues, and procedural rules that may be raised to frustrate an overseas worker's attempt to advance his or her claims. x x x x The fundamental effect of joint and several liability is that 'each of the debtors is liable for the entire obligation.' A final determination may, therefore, be achieved even. if only one of the joint and several debtors are impleaded in an action. Hence, in the case of overseas employment, either the local agency or the foreign employer may be sued for all claims arising from the foreign employer's labor law violations. This way, the overseas workers are assured that someone – the foreign employer's local agent – may be made to answer for violations that the foreign employer may have committed." See also ATCI Overseas Corporation v. Echin, 647 Phil. 43 (2010); and Sevillana v. I.T. (International) Corp., 408 Phil. 570 (2001). [47] See Sameer Overseas Placement Agency, Inc. v. Cabiles, id. at 446, wherein the Court held thus: "[a] further implication of making local agencies jointly and severally liable with the foreign employer is that an additional layer of protection is afforded to overseas workers. Local agencies, which are businesses by nature, are inoculated with interest in being always on the lookout against foreign employers that tend to violate labor law. Lest they risk their reputation or finances, local agencies must already have mechanisms for guarding against unscrupulous foreign employers even at the level prior to overseas employment applications." [48] See id. Source: Supreme Court E-Library This page was dynamically generated by the E-Library Content Management System (E-LibCMS) elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/64949 10/11