Eastern Shipping Lines vs POEA 166 SCRA 533 (1988).

Parties:

Petitioner: Eastern Shipping Lines

Respondents: Philippines Overseas Employment Administration, Minister of Labor and
Employment, Abdul Basar and Kathleen Saco.

Ponente: Justice J. Cruz

Facts of the Case

In the case at bar, the POEA awarded the lump sum of 192,000 pesos to the private
respondent, Kathleen Saco, after her husband, Vitaliano Saco, had died in an accident in
Tokyo, Japan while working as the Chief Officer of M/V Eastern Polaris, one of the ships owned
by the petitioner.

The private Respondent sued for damages under E.O. 797 and Memorandum Circular 02.
Petitioners argued that the charges should have been filed under the SSS against the State
Insurance Fund. The Petitioner assailed that the POEA had no jurisdiction on the matter and
contended that the imposition of the Memorandum Circular 02 is violative of the principle of non-
delegation of legislative power. The Petitioner quickly went to the Court and prompted the
Solicitor General to dismiss the case on the grounds of non-exhaustion of administrative
remedies.

Issues

1). W/N the POEA had Jurisdiction on the case

2). W/N the Memorandum Circular 02 was violative of the principle of non-delegation of
legislative power.

Ruling

1) YES, The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration was created under Executive
Order No. 797, promulgated on May 1, 1982, to promote and monitor the overseas
employment of Filipinos and to protect their rights. It replaced the National Seamen
Board created earlier under Article 20 of the Labor Code in 1974. Under Section 4(a) of
the said executive order, the POEA is vested with "original and exclusive jurisdiction
over all cases, including money claims, involving employee-employer relations arising
out of or by virtue of any law or contract involving Filipino contract workers, including
seamen." These cases, according to the 1985 Rules and Regulations on Overseas
Employment issued by the POEA, include, “claims for death, disability and other
benefits” arising out of such employment.
2) NO
Memorandum Circular No. 2 is an administrative regulation. It is the model contract
which requires domestic corporations to sign with their respective overseas workers for
the protection of the employee. The model contract prescribed thereby has been applied
in a significant number of the cases without challenge by the employer. The power of
the POEA (and before it the National Seamen Board) in requiring the model
contract is not unlimited as there is a sufficient standard guiding the delegate in
the exercise of the said authority. That standard is discoverable in the executive
order itself which, in creating the Philippine Overseas Employment
Administration, mandated it to protect the rights of overseas Filipino workers to
"fair and equitable employment practices."