5/28/2020 E-Library - Information At Your Fingertips: Printer Friendly I believe, too, that we should tread lightly in further expanding the concept of suspect classification after we have done so in Central Bank, where we held that classifications that result in prejudice to persons accorded special protection by the Constitution requires a stricter judicial scrutiny. The use of a suspect classification label cannot depend solely on whether the Constitution has accorded special protection to a specified sector. While the Constitution specially mentions labor as a sector that needs special protection, the involvement of or relationship to labor, by itself, cannot automatically trigger a suspect classification and the accompanying strict scrutiny; much should depend on the circumstances of the case, on the impact of the illegal differential treatment on the sector involved, on the needed protection, and on the impact of recognizing a suspect classification on future situations. In other words, we should carefully calibrate our moves when faced with an equal protection situation so that we do not misappreciate the essence of what a suspect classification is, and thereby lessen its jurisprudential impact and value. Reserving this approach to the worst cases of unacceptable classification and discrimination highlights the importance of striking at these types of unequal treatment and is a lesson that will not be lost on all concerned, particularly the larger public. There is the added reason, too, that the reverse onus that a strict scrutiny brings directly strikes, in the most glaring manner, at the regularity of the performance of functions of a co-equal branch of government; intergovernment harmony and courtesy demand that we reserve this type of treatment to the worst violations of the Constitution. Incidentally, I believe that we can arrive at the same conclusion and similarly strike down the disputed Section 10 by using the lowest level of scrutiny, thereby rendering the use of the strict scrutiny unnecessary. Given the OSG’s positions, the resulting differential treatment the law fosters between Philippine-based workers and OFWs in illegal dismissal situations does not rest on substantial distinctions that are germane to the purpose of the law. No reasonable basis for classification exists since the distinctions the OSG pointed out do not justify the different treatment of OFWs and Philippine-based workers, specifically, why one class should be excepted from the consequences of illegal termination under the Labor Code, while the other is not. To be sure, the difference in work locations and working conditions that the OSG pointed out are not valid grounds for distinctions that should matter in the enforcement of employment contracts. Whether in the Philippines or elsewhere, the integrity of contracts – be they labor, commercial or political – is a zealously guarded value that we in the Philippines should not demean by allowing a breach of OFW contracts easy to undertake. This is true whatever may be the duration or character of employment; employment contracts, whatever their term and conditions may be subject only to their consistency with the law, must be respected during the whole contracted term and under the conditions agreed upon. elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/57319 32/39