SECTION 2.

The Philippines renounces war as an instrument of national policy, adopts the

generally accepted principles of international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to the
policy of peace, equality, justice, freedom, cooperation, and amity with all nations

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 386

AN ACT TO ORDAIN AND INSTITUTE THE CIVIL CODE OF THE PHILIPPINES

PRELIMINARY TITLE

CHAPTER 1
Effect and Application of Laws

Article 7. Laws are repealed only by subsequent ones, and their violation or non-observance
shall not be excused by disuse, or custom or practice to the contrary.

When the courts declared a law to be inconsistent with the Constitution, the former shall be void
and the latter shall govern.

Administrative or executive acts, orders and regulations shall be valid only when they are not
contrary to the laws or the Constitution. (5a)

Article 8. Judicial decisions applying or interpreting the laws or the Constitution shall form a
part of the legal system of the Philippines. (n)

Article 9. No judge or court shall decline to render judgment by reason of the silence, obscurity
or insufficiency of the laws. (6)

Article 10. In case of doubt in the interpretation or application of laws, it is presumed that the
lawmaking body intended right and justice to prevail. (n)

Article 11. Customs which are contrary to law, public order or public policy shall not be
countenanced. (n)

Article 12. A custom must be proved as a fact, according to the rules of evidence. (n

INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL ALLIANCE OF EDUCATORS (ISAE), petitioner, vs. HON.

LEONARDO A. QUISUMBING
 G.R. No. 128845 June 1, 2000
KAPUNAN, J
FACTS
Presidential Decree 732, grant rights to International School Inc. It authorizes employment of
teaching personnel whether foreign or local to be part of its faculty. There are four
classifications to determine whether you are foreign hire or local hire. These are one’s domicile,
the home economy, to which country you owe economic allegiance and lastly the individual will
work in the school premises. Foreign hires have benefits such as housing, transportation,
shipping costs, taxes and home leave travel allowance plus the 25% salary more than the local
hire. Overseas Recruited Staff (OSRS) and Locally Recruited Staff (LRS).
June 1995, a negotiation meeting was held to form a new collective bargaining agreement
however it resulted into deadlock since the petitioner International School Alliance of Educators
a legitimate labor union and the collective bargaining representative of all faculty members
contested the difference in salary rates and whether the foreign hires must be included in the
bargaining unit.
September 7,1997, the petitioner filed a notice of strike because of the failure of National
Conciliation and Meditation board to bring the parties to compromise. The DOLE assumed the
jurisdiction.
Point of hire classification is discriminatory and the grant of foreign hires shows discrimination.
While the respondent proved that compensation package given to local hires including to the
foreigners who have been hired locally are equally paid as Filipino hires.
The acting secretary ruled in favor of the school. He explained that pay for equal work is not
applicable because the school is dealing with different nationalities and cultures among the
student population, it requires them to hire foreign personnel but in order to attract foreign
national you need to give them a competitive salary. Furthermore, the local hires enjoy a security
of tenure unlike the foreign hires who have limited contract of employment. Motion for
reconsiderations was also denied by the Secretary which led them to file a petition in court.

ISSUE
Whether or not the point-of-hire classification employed by the School is discriminatory to
Filipinos and that the grant of higher salaries to foreign-hires constitutes racial discrimination?
RULING
Yes, The Constitution 17 specifically provides that labor is entitled to "humane conditions of
work." These conditions are not restricted to the physical workplace — the factory, the office or
the field — but include as well the manner by which employers treat their employees.
Constitution 18 also directs the State to promote "equality of employment opportunities for all."
Similarly, the Labor Code 19 provides that the State shall "ensure equal work opportunities
regardless of sex, race or creed." It would be an affront to both the spirit and letter of these
provisions if the State, in spite of its primordial obligation to promote and ensure equal
employment opportunities, closes its eyes to unequal and discriminatory terms and conditions of
employment. Discrimination, particularly in terms of wages, is frowned upon by the Labor Code.
Article 135, for example, prohibits and penalizes the payment of lesser compensation to a female
employee as against a male employee for work of equal value. Article 248 declares it an unfair
labor practice for an employer to discriminate in regard to wages in order to encourage or
discourage membership in any labor organization.
The foregoing provisions impregnably institutionalize in this jurisdiction the long honored legal
truism of "equal pay for equal work." Persons who work with substantially equal qualifications,
skill, effort and responsibility, under similar conditions, should be paid similar salaries. This rule
applies to the School, its "international character" notwithstanding.
In this case, we find the point-of-hire classification employed by respondent School to justify the
distinction in the salary rates of foreign-hires and local hires to be an invalid classification. There
is no reasonable distinction between the services rendered by foreign-hires and local-hires. The
practice of the School of according higher salaries to foreign-hires contravenes public policy.
ISSUE
Whether or not foreign-hires belong to the same bargaining unit as the local-hires.
No, A bargaining unit is "a group of employees of a given employer, comprised of all or less
than all of the entire body of employees, consistent with equity to the employer, indicate to be
the best suited to serve the reciprocal rights and duties of the parties under the collective
bargaining provisions of the law." 29 The factors in determining the appropriate collective
bargaining unit are (1) the will of the employees (Globe Doctrine); (2) affinity and unity of the
employees' interest, such as substantial similarity of work and duties, or similarity of
compensation and working conditions (Substantial Mutual Interests Rule); (3) prior collective
bargaining history; and (4) similarity of employment status. 30 The basic test of an asserted
bargaining unit's acceptability is whether or not it is fundamentally the combination which will
best assure to all employees the exercise of their collective bargaining rights. 31