Short answer. Generally not, under the article's own definitions. Article 13 defines 'overseas employment' simply as employment of a worker outside the Philippines, which covers a typical OFW contract. 'Emigrant' is defined separately and narrower: a person who emigrates to a foreign country by virtue of an immigrant visa or resident permit or its equivalent.
What the law says
"Overseas employment" means employment of a worker outside the Philippines.
Labor Code, Article 13 — Key Recruitment Terms Defined. Read the full provision →
What the law says
"Emigrant" means any person, worker or otherwise, who emigrates to a foreign country by virtue of an immigrant visa or resident permit or its equivalent in the country of destination.
Labor Code, Article 13 — Key Recruitment Terms Defined. Read the full provision →
Two separate definitions in the same article
Article 13 is a definitions section, and it defines several terms relevant to Filipino workers going abroad in separate sentences rather than as one blended category. Two of those definitions answer your question directly: overseas employment and emigrant. Reading them side by side shows the Labor Code treats a worker sent abroad under a job contract very differently from a person who has actually emigrated.
'Overseas employment' — the OFW-on-contract category
The article defines overseas employment as simply employment of a worker outside the Philippines. This is a broad, functional definition tied to where the work is performed, not to the worker's immigration status in that country. An OFW working abroad under a contract — the typical arrangement for contract-based overseas Filipino workers — fits squarely within this definition, regardless of how long the assignment lasts or whether the worker intends to return.
'Emigrant' — the immigrant-visa-or-resident-permit category
'Emigrant' is defined quite differently: any person, worker or otherwise, who emigrates to a foreign country by virtue of an immigrant visa or resident permit or its equivalent in the country of destination. This definition turns on a specific legal status abroad — holding an immigrant visa, a resident permit, or an equivalent document — rather than simply on working outside the Philippines. A worker on an ordinary overseas employment contract, without that kind of immigrant or resident status in the host country, does not meet this definition merely by virtue of working there.
Why the distinction matters
The practical upshot is that these two categories are not the same thing, even though both describe Filipinos who have left the country. A contract-based OFW is squarely 'overseas employment' under Article 13, but is only an 'emigrant' as well if that worker separately holds an immigrant visa, resident permit, or equivalent status in the country where they are working — something a standard work contract, by itself, does not establish.