LIM, DANIELLE

Article III. Section 1. II. Substantive Due Process

JMM Promotion and Management Inc. v. CA 260 SCRA 319
FACTS:
After the death of Maricris Sioson in 1991, former President Corazon C. Aquino ordered a total ban against the
deployment of performing artists to Japan and other foreign destinations but this ban was eventually rescinded after
leaders of the overseas employment industry promised to extend full support for a program aimed at removing kinks
in the system of deployment.
The Secretary of Labor and Employment then issued Department Order No. 28, creating the Entertainment Industry
Advisory Council (EIAC), which was tasked with issuing guidelines on the training, testing certification and
deployment of performing artists abroad. Later on, Department Order No. 3 was created. This established the actual
procedures and requirements for screening performing artists under a new system of training, testing, certification
and deployment. After passing all the tests, an Artist's Record Book (ARB), a necessary prerequisite to processing of
any contract of employment by the POEA, will be issued to them.
The Federation of Entertainment Talent Managers of the Philippines (FETMOP) assailed these department orders
for 1) violating the constitutional right to travel; 2) abridging existing contracts for employment; and 3) depriving
individual artists of their licenses without due process of law. FETMOP also argued that the issuance of the Artist
Record Book (ARB) was discriminatory and illegal and "in gross violation of the constitutional right... to life liberty
and property." JMM Promotion and Management, Inc. Kary International, Inc. filed a Motion for Intervention in
said civil case, which was granted.
ISSUES: W/N the issuance of DO No. 3 and the ARB is a valid exercise of police power
HELD:
Yes, the issuance of DO No. 3 and the ARB is a valid exercise of police power.
Police power is the power to interfere with personal liberty or property through government enactments in order to
promote the general welfare or the common good. In 1984, the Philippines became largest labor sending country in
Asia. Women composed almost half of those deployed. Most of the women, employed as domestic helpers and
entertainers, worked under conditions "marked by physical and personal abuse." Because of the fact that many
Filipina performing artists ended up as prostitutes abroad and a few of them even ended up dead, the government
wanted to deploy only those who met set standards which would qualify them as legitimate performing artists.
The welfare of the Filipino performing artists, especially women, was the reason for the issuance of Department
Order No. 3. It is good to note that the selection of performing artists is usually done through audition. Those who
are unfit are usually eliminated through a very subjective and biased process. The ARB requirement goes one step
further. It tries to minimize the subjectivity of the process by defining the minimum skills required from entertainers
and performing artists. The tests are aimed at segregating real artists or performers from those who are not and just
eager to accept any available job, exposing themselves to possible exploitation.
As to the other provisions of Department Order No. 3 questioned by petitioners, there is nothing wrong with the
requirements for document and booking confirmation (D.O. 3-C), a minimum salary scale (D.O. 3-E), or the
requirement for registration of returning performers. The requirement for a venue certificate or other documents
allows the government to monitor the foreign employers and keep our entertainers away from worksites associated
with immoral, illegal or exploitative practices.
A profession is a property right. However, no right is absolute. The proper regulation of a profession has always
been upheld as a legitimate subject of a valid exercise of the police power by the state particularly when their
conduct affects either the execution of legitimate governmental functions, the preservation of the State, the public
health and welfare, and public morals.