Short answer. No. Article 300 provides that no lay-off shall be effected until funds to cover the gratuity and retirement benefits of those laid off are duly certified as available. An agency implementing the Code cannot lawfully carry out the lay-off first and sort out the funding afterward.
What the law says
In any case, no lay-off shall be effected until funds to cover the gratuity and/or retirement benefits of those laid off are duly certified as available.
Labor Code, Article 300 — Staff Displaced By The Code. Read the full provision →
The rule is a precondition, not a formality
Article 300 puts the funding requirement ahead of the lay-off itself, in absolute terms: in any case, no lay-off shall be effected until funds to cover the gratuity and/or retirement benefits of those laid off are duly certified as available. The phrase "in any case" leaves little room for exceptions. Certification of available funds is not a step that can be completed after the fact or treated as a paperwork detail to be tidied up once workers have already been let go; it has to happen before the lay-off takes effect at all.
Who this protection covers
The article applies to "personnel of agencies or any of their subordinate units whose services are terminated as a result of the implementation of this Code." These are government personnel displaced specifically because applying the Labor Code required changes to how an agency or its subordinate units were staffed. For that category of worker, the law layers on an additional protection beyond the ordinary rules on termination: the guarantee that the money for their gratuity and retirement benefits is confirmed to exist before they lose their positions.
This sits alongside other protections, not in place of them
Article 300 also states that this personnel "shall enjoy the rights and protection provided in Sections 5 and 6 of Republic Act numbered fifty-four hundred and thirty five and such other pertinent laws, rules and regulations." So the funds-certification requirement is an additional safeguard layered on top of whatever rights those other laws and regulations already provide, rather than a replacement for them. A displaced worker's protection under Article 300 is meant to be read together with those other pertinent laws and regulations, not as the sole source of their rights.
What this means if a lay-off is being planned
If an agency intends to carry out a lay-off of personnel displaced by the Labor Code, the certification that funds for gratuity and retirement benefits are available has to be in place first. A lay-off carried out before that certification exists runs against the plain wording of Article 300, which conditions the lay-off itself, not merely the eventual payment, on the funds already being confirmed. Workers facing this situation should look for evidence of that certification as a basic checkpoint before any lay-off can be considered validly carried out under this article.