GENERAL PROVISIONS ART.

be lawfully delegated. The Labor Code itself in Article 5 vests the Department of
Labor and Employment with rule-making powers in the enforcement thereof.1
1.1 When Invalid
A rule or regulation promulgated by an administrative body, such as the
Department of Labor, to implement a law, in excess of its rule-making authority,
is void.
For instance, the Rules and Regulations implementing Article 94 of
the Labor Code, and the accompanying Policy Instructions No. 9 limited the
entitlement to holiday pay to daily-paid employees only thereby excluding
monthly-paid employees. But the law itself states that “every worker” shall be
entitled to holiday pay.
The Court declared that those rules and regulations as well as the policy
instructions are null and void. By disentitling the monthly employees, the Labor
Secretary exceeded his rule-making authority. An administrative interpretation
which takes away a benefit granted in the law is ultra vires, that is, beyond one’s
power.2
ART. 6. APPLICABILITY
All rights and benefits granted to workers under this Code shall, except
as may otherwise be provided herein, apply alike to all workers, whether
agricultural or non-agricultural.
COMMENTS
1. APPLICABILITY TO GOVERNMENT CORPORATIONS
The question has arisen whether the Code applies, and the jurisdiction of
the Department of Labor extends, to government corporations. The ruling now
is that the Labor Code applies to a government corporation incorporated under
the Corporation Code. Earlier, in the 1985 ruling in National Housing Corporation
vs. Juco, 134 SCRA 172, the Supreme Court laid down the doctrine that employees
of government-owned and/or controlled corporations, whether chartered by
Congress or formed under the general Corporation Law, were governed by the
Civil Service Law and not by the Labor Code. This doctrine is now obsolete as it
has been supplanted by the present [1987] Constitution, which provides: “The
Civil Service embraces all branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities and agencies
of the Government, including government-owned or controlled corporations with
original charters.”

1
Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. vs. Drilon, G.R. No. 81958,
June 30, 1988.
2
CBTC Employees Union vs. Clave, G.R. No. 49582, January 7, 1986.

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