5/19/2021
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principal foreign employer, might commit against such OFWs under the law.
The argument is unmeritorious.
Sec. 9-B(b), last paragraph, of R.A. No. 11199 states:
The persons having direct control, management or direction of the manning
agencies shall be held criminally liable for any act or omission penalized
under this Act notwithstanding Section 28(f) hereof.
On the other hand, this provision should be read in conjunction with Sec. 28(f) of R.A.
No. 11199, which states:
SEC. 28. Penal Clause.
xxxx
(f) If the act or omission penalized by this Act be committed by an
association, partnership, corporation or any other institution, its managing
head, directors or partners shall be liable for the penalties provided in this
Act for the offense.
Verily, before a managing head, director or partner is penalized, their association,
partnership, corporation or any other institution must first commit a criminal act under
R.A. No. 11199. Consequently, the officers shall only have criminal liability for their
organization's own acts. There is no ipso jure criminal liability of the officers of manning
agencies because some other separate entity, such as a foreign principal employer,
committed a crime entirely unrelated to such manning agency.
The Senate deliberations show the intent of lawmakers not to mindlessly charge officers
of the manning agencies for criminal acts when the liability is only civil in nature,
especially when there are no separate acts of collusion in the criminal acts of other
entities, to wit:
INTERPELLATION OF SENATOR DRILON
He stated that at present, there are two systems of salary remittances in the
shipping industry – one is when the manning agency does payroll services
wherein sums of money are remitted by the shipping company to the
manning agent and the latter would be the one to pay the salary of the seabased OFW, remit usually 70% of his/her salary to his family, and, at the
same time, remit the SSS contributions of both the OFW and the shipping
company; and second is when the manning agency only performs manning
https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/66432
19/28
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