EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 591
EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 591 -
INSTITUTING CERTAIN CRITICAL CHANGES IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF
THE MINISTRY OF LABOR
WHEREAS,
five years after the Labor Code introduced institutional innovations in
the Ministry of Labor, it has now become necessary to examine its
present structure as a result of new and urgent demands upon its
services;
WHEREAS, in the light of objective appraisal, there is need to
institute certain structural-functional changes in the Ministry of
Labor to enable it to respond to its increasingly complex role in the
management of social conflict, including the promotion of industrial
peace, dispensation of speedy labor justice, and the provisions of just
and humane labor standards as well as meaningful and gainful employment
opportunities, both locally and overseas; and
WHEREAS, under Presidential Decree No. 1416, the President is empowered
to undertake such organizational and related improvements as may be
appropriate in the light of changing circumstances and new
developments.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, FERDINAND E. MARCOS, President of the Philippines,
by virtue of the powers vested in me by the Constitution, and the
authority vested in me by Presidential Decree No. 1416, do hereby order
and ordain:
ARTICLE
I
MINISTRY OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
1. The Ministry of Labor, hereinafter referred to as
the Ministry, is hereby renamed the Ministry of Labor and Employment.
ARTICLE
II
OFFICES OF THE MINISTRY PROPER
1. The responsibility and authority for the exercise
of the powers and the discharge of the functions of the Ministry shall
be vested in a Minister who shall be assisted by one Deputy Minister,
unless otherwise provided for by law or directed by the
President.
2. Unless otherwise herein provided, the existing
services in the Ministry are retained.
ARTICLE
III
LEGAL SERVICE
1. A Legal Service is hereby created in the Ministry
Proper which shall be primarily responsible for providing the Ministry
with consultative and advisory legal service, including the
interpretation of laws affecting operations of the Ministry, labor
rules and regulations, assistance to the Solicitor-General in suits
involving the Ministry, and the conduct of administrative
investigations.
2. The Legal Division in the Administrative Service
and the Labor Appeals Review Staff are abolished and their functions
together with applicable appropriations, records, equipment, property
and such personnel as may be necessary are transferred to the Legal
Service.
ARTICLE
IV
SPECIAL OFFICES IN THE MINISTRY
POWER
1. The Rural Workers’ Office, the Free Legal
Assistance Office and the Population/Family Planning Office shall be
under the Minister’s direct supervision in the formulation and
evaluation of policies and programs pertaining to the social
amelioration of rural workers, the extension of free legal assistance
to indigent workers and population/family planning for covered
industrial establishments, respectively. Their line functions are
transferred to the regional offices of the Ministry which shall
likewise absorb their existing field units.
2. The Institute of Occupational Health and Safety is
hereby abolished.
3. The Minister of Labor and Employment shall
administer the Special Project Fund created under Presidential Decree
No. 788, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 1365, subject to the
provisions of Sec. 40 of Presidential Decree No. 1177.
ARTICLE
V
ABOLITION OF THE LABOR STANDARDS
COMMISSION
1. The Labor Standards Commission which is attached
to the Bureau of Labor Standards is hereby abolished and its pertinent
records, equipment, appropriation and such personnel as may be
necessary are transferred to the Bureau of Labor Standards.
ARTICLE
VI
REGIONAL EMPLOYMENT AND MANNING
OFFICES
1. The Regional Employment Offices of the Bureau of
Employment Services and the Regional Manning Offices of the National
Seamen Board are hereby abolished and their functions together with
applicable appropriations, records, equipment, and such personnel as
may be necessary are transferred to the regional offices of the
Ministry.
2. The Bureau of Employment Services shall exercise
technical and functional supervision over pertinent employment services
undertaken by the regional offices.
ARTICLE
VII
REGIONAL DISTRICT OFFICES
The Minister of Labor and Employment is hereby authorized to create
such district offices as may be necessary under the appropriate
Ministry regional offices, subject to the approval of the President.
ARTICLE
VIII
AUTHORITY TO REORGANIZE THE
INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE MINISTRY
1. The Arbitration Branches, the Field Services
Divisions and the Labor Relations Divisions in the regional offices are
hereby abolished and their appropriations, records, equipment, and such
personnel as may be necessary are transferred to the appropriate units
to be created. The Minister is also authorized to reorganize
organizational units in the Bureau of Employment Services, Overseas
Employment Development Board and National Seamen Board performing
licensing, recruitment, placement and adjudicatory functions as well as
the internal structure of the Institute of Labor and Manpower Studies.
ARTICLE
IX
RETIREMENT OF LABOR ATTACHES
1. All labor attaches who have reached 60 years of
age and have rendered a minimum of 15 years of service as of the date
of this Executive Order are considered retired three months after
effectivity of this Executive Order with full benefits under existing
laws.
ARTICLE
X
IMPLEMENTATION OF EXECUTIVE ORDER
1. The Minister of Labor and Employment shall
promulgate the necessary implementing orders to carry out the
provisions of this Executive Order, subject to the concurrence of the
Ministry of the Budget and whenever necessary, of the Presidential
Commission on Reorganization.
2. Pending the effectivity of these implementing
measures, the bureaus, offices, services and other units of the
Ministry shall continue to exist and function under the pertinent laws
and issuances governing their creations and operations.
3. Consistent with economy, efficiency and
effectiveness, the Minister of Labor and Employment may authorized any
bureau or office of the Ministry to assume, on a temporary basis,
certain functions of the regional office of the Ministry in the
National Capital Region as provided for under this Executive Order,
Presidential Decree No. 1691 and other pertinent laws: Provided, That
previously the undertaking of such functions had been limited to or at
the very least primarily concentrated in the National Capital Region.
This reallocation of functions and authorities shall be subject to the
concurrence of the Ministry of the Budget and, whenever necessary, of
the Presidential Commission on Reorganization.
ARTICLE
XI
APPROPRIATION
1. The Ministry of the Budget shall make available
such funds as may be adequate to meet the operational requirements of
the reorganized set-up of the Ministry of Labor and Employment carried
out pursuant to this Executive Order.
ARTICLE
XII
EFFECTIVITY
1. This Executive Order shall be effective
immediately.
DONE in the City of Manila,
this 1st day of May, in the year of Our Lord, Nineteen Hundred and
Eighty.
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