Short answer. Section 15 of RA 7610 does not create new employer duties itself. It requires every employer to comply with the duties already set out in Articles 108 and 109 of Presidential Decree No. 603, the Child and Youth Welfare Code — folding those protections for working children directly into RA 7610's own enforcement scheme.

What the law says

Every employer shall comply with the duties provided for in Articles 108 and 109 of Presidential Decree No. 603.

RA 7610, Section 15 — Duty Of Employer. Read the full provision →

A cross-reference, not a fresh rule

Section 15 is short by design: Every employer shall comply with the duties provided for in Articles 108 and 109 of Presidential Decree No. 603. Rather than restate those employer duties, RA 7610 simply incorporates them by reference. This matters practically — an employer, worker, or advocate checking compliance under RA 7610 needs to look at what Articles 108 and 109 of the Child and Youth Welfare Code actually require, because that older code, not RA 7610's own text, is where the substance of the duty lives.

Why RA 7610 folds in an older code instead of writing its own rule

RA 7610 is the Special Protection of Children Against Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act — its core purpose is protecting children from abuse and exploitation, including in work settings, not duplicating labor standards that predate it. By cross-referencing Presidential Decree No. 603 instead of rewriting it, Congress avoided two inconsistent sets of employer obligations toward the same working children existing side by side, one under the older welfare code and one under the newer protection law.

What this means if you think your employer is falling short

Because Section 15's duty is defined by pointing to Articles 108 and 109 of Presidential Decree No. 603, a worker or parent evaluating whether an employer is complying should look at that Code's specific text, not just RA 7610 in isolation. RA 7610 sits alongside the Labor Code's own protections for minors, so a working child's situation is often governed by more than one statute at once, and the specific facts — the child's age, the type of work, and the industry — usually determine which set of rules is doing the heavier lifting in a given dispute.

Why this cross-reference is still worth knowing about

A working child or parent reading only RA 7610 in isolation could reasonably conclude that Section 15 imposes no real obligation at all, since its own text describes no specific duty. Recognizing that the actual content sits in Presidential Decree No. 603 is what turns a seemingly empty cross-reference into an enforceable protection — it tells anyone checking compliance exactly where to look, rather than leaving the question of what an employer must actually do unanswered by RA 7610's own four corners.

Related provisions

Note. Statute text quoted on this page is reproduced from the official enactment and is linked to the full provision. The explanation around it is general legal information from Vivas & Nobles Law Office, not legal advice. Whether it applies to your situation depends on facts only a lawyer reviewing them can assess.