Corporation Code Our laws are good as far as the extent of our territory.

This is why there is now an uncertainty on how to protect our online workers whose employees come from abroad. In cases where the online employer, like in a telework set-up, is simply located within the Philippines, he obligated to comply with the standards, procedures, and other requirements our Labor Laws and other laws. This is true even if the employer is a foreign company. As provided for in the Corporation Code:
Sec. 129. Law applicable. - Any foreign corporation lawfully doing business in the Philippines shall be bound by all laws, rules and regulations applicable to domestic corporations of the same class, except such only as provide for the creation, formation, organization or dissolution of corporations or those which fix the relations, liabilities, responsibilities, or duties of stockholders, members, or officers of corporations to each other or to the corporation. 1

Therefore, if that foreign company is doing business here in the Philippines, then he is subject to our laws. Otherwise, if the employer is a company that is not considered as doing business here, with no office, place of business, or agents, in the Philippines, then he may not be subject to the jurisdiction of the Philippine courts. In Avon Insurance vs. CA, it was held: If a foreign corporation does not do business here, there would be no reason for it to be subject to the States regulation. As we observed, in so far as State is concerned, such foreign corporation has no legal existence. Therefore, to subject such corporation to the courts jurisdiction would violate the essence of sovereignty.2 Republic Act 70423, Section 3(d) provides for what constitutes doing business in the Philippines.
Section 3. Definitions. - As used in this Act: a) xxx
1

Corporation Code. Section 129. Avon Insruance, et. al. vs CA, G.R. No. 97642, August 29, 1997

An Act To Promote Foreign Investments, Prescribe The Procedures For Registering Enterprises Doing Business In The Philippines, And For Other Purposes

d) The phrase doing business shall include soliciting orders, services contracts, opening offices, whether called liaison offices or branches; appointing representatives or distributors domiciled in the Philippines or who in any calendar year stay in the country for a period or periods totaling one hundred eighty (180) days or more; participating in the management, supervision or control of any domestic business, firm, entity or corporation in the Philippines; and any other act or acts that imply a continuity of commercial dealings or arrangements, and contemplate to that extent the performance of acts or works, or the exercise of some of the functions normally incident to, and in progressive prosecution of, commercial gain or of the purpose and object of the business organization: Provided, however, that the phrase doing business shall not be deemed to include mere investment as a shareholder by a foreign entity in domestic corporations duly registered to do business, and/or the exercise of rights as such investor; nor having a nominee director or officer to represent its interest in such corporation; nor appointing a representative or distributor domiciled in the Philippines which transacts business in its own name and for its own account; xxx

Referring to Jurisprudence, In the case of Top-Weld Manufacturing, Inc. v. ECED, S.A.4 the Court stated:
There is no general rule or governing principle laid down as to what constitutes'doing'or'engaging in' or 'transacting business in the Philippines. Each case must be judged in the Light of its peculiar circumstance (Mentholatum Co. v. Mangaliman, 72 Phil.524).

138 SCRA 118,127-128