EASTERN

SHIPPING LINES, INC. V. POEA

CONCEPTS:

Overseas employment – Defined as the employment of a worker outside the Philippines, including
employment on board vessels plying international waters, covered by a valid contract (1985 Rules and
Regulations on Overseas Employment).

Legislative discretion as to the substantive contents of the law cannot be delegated; what can be
delegated however, is the discretion to determine how the law may be enforced, not what the law shall
be.

Two tests in determining valid delegation of legislative power:

1. The completeness test – the law must be complete in all its terms and conditions when it leaves
the legislature such that when it reaches the delegate the only thing he will have to do is
enforce it.
2. The sufficient standard test – there must be adequate guidelines or limitations in the law to map
out the boundaries of the delegate’s authority and prevent the delegation from running riot.

Power of subordinate legislation – administrative bodies may implement the broad policies laid down in
a statute by "filling in' the details which the Congress may not have the opportunity or competence to
provide.

Administrative agencies are vested with 2 basic powers:

1. Quasi-legislative – enables to promulgate implementing rules and regulations.

2. Quasi-judicial – enables them to interpret and apply such regulations.

FACTS:

PETITION to review the decision of Philippine Overseas Employment Administration.

1. Private respondent was awarded P192,000 by POEA for the death of her husband.
2. Decision was challenged by the petitioner on the principal ground that the POEA had no
jurisdiction over the case as the husband was not an overseas worker.
3. Vitaliano Saco (deceased husband of the private respondent) was Chief Officer of the M/V
Eastern Polaris when he was killed in an accident in Tokyo, Japan.
4. His widow sued for damages under EO 797 and Memorandum Circular 2 of the POEA, which
stipulated death benefits and burial for the family of overseas workers.
5. Petitioner, as owner of the vessel, argued that the complaint was cognizable not by the POEA
but by the Social Security System and should be filed against the State Insurance Fund.
6. POEA nevertheless assumed jurisdiction and ruled in favor of the complainant (Saco’s widow).
7. The award consisted of P180,000 as death benefits and P12,000 for burial expenses.
8. The petitioner immediately came to the SC, prompting the Solicitor General to move for
dismissal on the ground of non-exhaustion of administrative remedies.
9. The petitioner questions the validity of Memorandum Circular 2 itself as violative of the
principle of non-delegation of legislative power.

ISSUE:

Is the issuance of Memorandum Circular 2 a violation of the principle of non-delegation?

RULING:

No. The petition is DISMISSED.

RATIONALE:

1. The authority to issue the said regulation (Memorandum Circular 2) is clearly provided in Section
4(a) of EO 797. ... "The governing Board of the Administration (POEA), as hereunder provided
shall promulgate the necessary rules and regulations to govern the exercise of the adjudicatory
functions of the Administration (POEA)."
2. It is true that legislative discretion as to the substantive contents of the law cannot be
delegated. What can be delegated is the discretion to determine how the law may be enforced,
not what the law shall be. The ascertainment of the latter subject is a prerogative of the
legislature. This prerogative cannot be abdicated or surrendered by the legislature to the
delegate.
3. The reasons given above for the delegation of legislative powers in general are particularly
applicable to administrative bodies. With the proliferation of specialized activities and their
attendant peculiar problems, the national legislature has found it more and more necessary to
entrust to administrative agencies the authority to issue rules to carry out the general provisions
of the statute. This is called the "power of subordinate legislation."
4. With this power, administrative bodies may implement the broad policies laid down in a statute
by "filling in' the details which the Congress may not have the opportunity or competence to
provide. This is effected by their promulgation of what are known as supplementary regulations,
such as the implementing rules issued by the Department of Labor on the new Labor Code.
These regulations have the force and effect of law.
• In this case, the mandate given to POEA by EO 797 is to protect the rights of overseas
Filipino workers to “fair and equitable employment practices,” is a broad policy.
• Memorandum Circular 2 was made use by the POEA as ‘filling in’ the details of such
mandate.
5. As justification, doubts regarding the rights of parties are resolved in favor of private respondent
under the principle that “those with less in life should have more in law”.
6. When the conflicting interests of labor and capital are weighed on the scales of social justice,
the heavier influence of the latter must be counterbalanced by the sympathy and compassion
the law must accord the underprivileged worker.