FACTS:
The Department of Labor and Employment issued Department Order No. 1, Series of 1988, for the temporary suspension of deployment of Filipino domestic and household workers. The Philippine Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (PASEI) challenges said order for being discriminatory against domestic helpers and women of similar skills.
ISSUE(S):
Whether or not the assailed department order violated the equal protection clause of the Constitution.
HELD:
NO. There is no question that Department Order No. 1 applies only to “female contract workers,” but it does not thereby make an undue discrimination between the sexes. There is strong evidence that women domestic workers are being ill-treated abroad in massive instances. Such is not the case for male workers.
Unquestionably, it is the avowed objective of Department Order No. 1 to “enhance the protection for Filipino female overseas workers.” This Court has no quarrel that in the midst of the terrible mistreatment Filipina workers have suffered abroad, a ban on deployment will be for their own good and welfare.
Petition is DISMISSED.
