Text of the provision

Art. 19. Office of Emigrant Affairs. Pursuant to the national policy to maintain close ties with Filipino migrant communities and promote their welfare as well as establish a data bank in aid of national manpower policy formulation, an Office of Emigrant Affairs is hereby created in the Department of Labor. The Office shall be a unit at the Office of the Secretary and shall initially be manned and operated by such personnel and through such funding as are available within the Department and its attached agencies. Thereafter, its appropriation shall be made part of the regular General Appropriations Decree. The office shall, among others, promote the well-being of emigrants and maintain their close link to the homeland by: serving as a liaison with migrant communities; provision of welfare and cultural services; promote and facilitate re-integration of migrants into the national mainstream; promote economic; political and cultural ties with the communities; and generally to undertake such activities as may be appropriate to enhance such cooperative links.

Labor Code of the Philippines, Presidential Decree No. 442, as amended. Reproduced in full from the official enactment and verified against the LawPhil and ChanRobles renderings.

What this article means

An office is created in the Department of Labor to keep close ties with Filipino migrant communities and to build a data bank for manpower policy. It acts as liaison with migrant communities, provides welfare and cultural services, and helps reintegrate returning migrants into national life.

Related provisions

A note on article numbers. The articles of the Labor Code have been administratively renumbered, so the same provision is often cited under a different number. Supreme Court decisions write both, in the form “Article 297 [282]” — the new number first, the original in brackets. The text on this page is published under its original number, which is the numbering both source texts use. When citing, check which numbering your source follows.

Cases interpreting this article

Note. The text of the provision above is reproduced in full from the official enactment (Presidential Decree No. 442), verified against the LawPhil and ChanRobles renderings. The Labor Code has been amended many times; this page reproduces the text as those sources carry it. The annotation and commentary around it are the work of Vivas & Nobles Law Office and are general legal information, not legal advice. How a provision applies to a particular situation depends on facts that only a lawyer reviewing your case can assess.