Short answer. Yes. Article 36 of the Labor Code expressly authorizes the Secretary of Labor to restrict and regulate recruitment and placement activities and to issue orders and promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the objectives and implement the provisions of the recruitment chapter.
What the law says
The Secretary of Labor shall have the power to restrict and regulate the recruitment and placement activities of all agencies within the coverage of this Title and is hereby authorized to issue orders and promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the objectives and implement the provisions of this Title.
Labor Code, Article 36 — Power To Regulate Recruiters. Read the full provision →
What Article 36 authorizes
Article 36 of the Labor Code contains a broad grant of regulatory authority to the Secretary of Labor over recruitment and placement: "The Secretary of Labor shall have the power to restrict and regulate the recruitment and placement activities of all agencies within the coverage of this Title and is hereby authorized to issue orders and promulgate rules and regulations to carry out the objectives and implement the provisions of this Title." This means the Department of Labor and Employment can go beyond the literal text of the Code and fill operational gaps through administrative issuances, provided those issuances serve the objectives of the recruitment chapter.
Scope of the regulatory power
The power covers all agencies within the recruitment and placement chapter — which is broad enough to include local and overseas placement agencies, manning agencies, and others that handle the recruitment and deployment of workers. The Secretary can restrict what these agencies do, set conditions on how they operate, and issue orders covering everything from documentation requirements to conduct standards. The authority is not limited to what the Code explicitly spells out; it extends to whatever is needed to implement the chapter's objectives.
What this means for agencies and workers
For recruitment and placement agencies, compliance with the Labor Code alone is not sufficient — they must also comply with the orders, rules, and regulations issued by the Secretary of Labor under this authority. These administrative issuances carry legal force. For workers, the same authority that allows the Secretary to restrict agencies also allows tighter protections to be put in place without waiting for Congress to amend the Code. When a regulation closes a loophole or adds a requirement not in the statute, it is a lawful exercise of this delegated power as long as it stays within the recruitment chapter's objectives.
Note on article numbering
The articles of the Labor Code have been administratively renumbered, so this provision may be cited under a different number in some Supreme Court decisions, which typically write both numbers in the form "Article [new] [original]." This page uses the original numbering as published in the source texts. When checking a court ruling or a government issuance, confirm which numbering it follows to make sure you are reading the same provision.