Short answer. This article establishes your underlying entitlement: five days of paid service incentive leave yearly once you have rendered at least a year of service. Whether that specific entitlement applies to you at all depends first on the exemptions the same article lists, before the question of unused leave upon resignation can even arise.
What the law says
Every employee who has rendered at least one year of service shall be entitled to a yearly service incentive leave of five days with pay.
Labor Code, Article 95 — Service Incentive Leave. Read the full provision →
The entitlement this article creates
This article is the source of the benefit itself: every employee who has rendered at least one year of service shall be entitled to a yearly service incentive leave of five days with pay. One year of service is the trigger — once you clear it, the five days accrue as a paid benefit. Whether unused days from that entitlement are later converted to cash is a separate question governed by rules outside the text of this specific article, so it is worth having your particular situation checked against those rules directly rather than assuming either outcome.
Three situations where the article does not apply at all
Before the cash-out question is even relevant, check whether you are covered in the first place. The article carves out employees "already enjoying the benefit herein provided," those "enjoying vacation leave with pay of at least five days," and those "employed in establishments regularly employing less than ten employees." If any of these describes your situation, this particular article's five-day entitlement does not apply to you as a separate, additional benefit.
A fourth exemption requires an actual DOLE determination
The article also exempts establishments the Secretary of Labor and Employment has excused from granting this benefit, "after considering the viability or financial condition of such establishment." This is not something an employer can decide for itself by claiming financial hardship — it requires an actual exemption granted by the Secretary of Labor and Employment, not merely the employer's own assertion that it cannot afford the benefit.
Benefits beyond the statutory minimum sit outside this article
The article also draws a line around itself: "the grant of benefit in excess of that provided herein shall not be made a subject of arbitration or any court or administrative action." In other words, if your employer voluntarily gives more than five days, that extra portion is not something this article regulates or enforces — it is a benefit beyond what the law itself requires. If you are trying to work out exactly what happens to your unused days on resignation, start by confirming which of these categories you fall into, since that changes what you are actually owed under this article versus under any separate company policy.