[ Acts No. 4055, February 27, 1933 ]
AN ACT PROVIDING FOR MEDIATION, CONCILIATION, AND ARBITRATION IN CONTROVERSIES BETWEEN LANDLORDS AND TENANTS AND BETWEEN EMPLOYERS AND EMPLOYEES, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Legislature assembled and by the authority of the same:
Section 1. In the Department of Justice there shall such number of special mediators as may from time to time be available under current appropriations. Such special mediators shall be appointed by the Secretary of Justice.
Section 2. Whenever a controversy concerning wages, hours of labor, or conditions of tenancy or employment between landlords and tenants or between an employer and his employees or laborers, or a strike or lockout shall arise, or is imminent and likely to disturb the public peace and order, one or more of the special mediators provided for. in section one of this Act shall, when the Director of Labor should deem advisable to terminate his intervention in accordance with subsection (d) of section two thousand fifty-nine of the Revised Administrative Code, and at his own request or when so ordered by the Governor-General, put themselves in communication with the parties to such controversy with all practicable expedition and shall use their best efforts, by mediation and conciliation, to amicably settle the same; and if such efforts to bring about an amicable adjustment through mediation and conciliate shall be unsuccessful, the said special mediators shall at once endeavor to induce the parties to submit their controversy to arbitration in accordance with the provisions of this Act.
Section 3. If the parties to a controversy should agree to submit voluntarily to arbitration, a board of three persons shall be chosen in the following manner: one of the special mediators provided for in section one, who shall be the chairman, shall be designated by the Secretary of Justice; one shall be named by the landlord or employer directly interested, and one by the tenants or employees or laborers or labor organization to which the tenants or employees or laborers directly interested belong, or if they belong to more than one, by all of such labor organizations. In the event that the tenants or employees or laborers engaged in any given controversy are not members of a labor organization, such tenants or employees or laborers may select a committee which shall have the right to choose one arbitrator.
Section 4. The agreement to arbitrate-
First. Shall be in writing;
Second. Shall stipulate that the arbitration is had under the provisions of this Act;
Third. Shall be signed by duly accredited representatives of the landlord or employer and of the tenants or employees or laborers;
Fourth. Shall state specifically the questions to be submitted to the said board for decision;
Fifth. Shall stipulate that the majority of said board shall be competent to make a valid and binding award;
Sixth. Shall fix a period from the date of the appointment of arbitrators necessary to complete the board, as provided for in the agreement, within which the said board shall commence its hearings;
Seventh. Shall fix a period from the beginning of the hearing within which the said board shall make and file its award: Provided, That this period shall be thirty days unless a different period be agreed to;
Eighth. Shall provide for the date from which the award shall become effective and shall fix the period during which the said award shall continue in force;
Ninth. Shall provide that the respective parties to the award will each faithfully execute the same;
Tenth. Shall provide that the award and the papers and proceedings, including the testimony relating thereto, certified under the hands of the arbitrators, and which shall have the force and effect of a bill of exceptions, shall be filed in the office of the clerk of the Court of First Instance for the province wherein the controversy arose, and shall be final and conclusive upon the parties to the agreement unless set aside for error of law apparent on the record;
Eleventh. May also provide that any difference arising as to the meaning or application of the provisions of an award made by the board of arbitration shall be referred back to the same board or to a subcommittee of such board for a ruling, which ruling shall have the same force and effect as the original award; and if any member of the original board is unable or unwilling to serve, and arbitrator shall be named in the same manner as original member was named.
Section 5. Every agreement to arbitrate under this Act shall be acknowledged by the parties thereto before a notary public or any other officer by law authorized to take acknowledgment, and when so acknowledged shall be transmitted to the Secretary of Justice to be filed in his office.
Section 6. As soon as practicable after their appointment the arbitrators shall qualify and organize. Each of said arbitrators shall before entering upon the discharge of his duties, take and subscribe an oath of office before an officer authorized by law to administer oath wherein he shall declare to faithfully and fairly discharge his duties as member of the board. The board shall make all the necessary rules for conducting its hearing: Provided, That all testimony before said board shall be under oath or affirmation and in its awards the board shall continue itself to making findings or recommendations on the questions specifically submitted to it or on matters directly bearing on such questions.
The board or the chairman thereof shall have the power to administer oaths in matters connected with the administration of the board of arbitration, sign subpoena, require the attendance and testimony of witnesses and the production of such books, papers, contracts, agreements and documents as may be material to a just determination of the matters under investigation, and to take testimony in any investigation or hearing conduced in pursuance of the provisions of this Act; and may invoke the aid of the proper courts to compel witnesses to attend and testify, and to produce such books, papers, contracts, agreements and documents.
The arbitrators shall receive such fees and traveling expenses as may be provided for under current appropriations.
Section 7. The Board of Arbitration shall furnish a certified copy of its award to the respective parties to the controversy and to the Secretary of Justice, and shall transmit the original, together with the papers and proceedings and the transcript of the testimony taken at the hearings, certified under the hands of the arbitrators, to the clerk of the Court of First Instance for the province wherein the controversy arose, to be filed in said clerk's office as provided in paragraph ten of section four of this Act.
Section 8. If the parties to an arbitration desire the reconvening of a board to pass upon any controversy arising over the meaning or application of an award, they shall jointly so notify the Secretary of Justice and shall state the question or questions to be submitted to such reconvened board. The Secretary of Justice shall thereupon promptly communicate with the members of the board of arbitration or a subcommittee of such board appointed for such purpose pursuant to the provisions of the agreement of arbitration, and arrange for the reconvening of said board or subcommittee, and shall notify the respective parties to the controversy of the time and place at which the board will meet for hearing upon the matters in controversy to be submitted to it.
Section 9. After the award is filed in the office of the clerk of court as hereinbefore provided, it shall go into practical operation and judgment shall be entered thereon accordingly at the expiration of ten days from such filing, unless either party shall file exceptions as provided in this section, in which case said award shall go into practical operation and judgment shall be entered accordingly when such exceptions shall have been finally disposed of either by the Court of First Instance or on appeal therefrom.
Within ten days after the award is filed in the office of the clerk of court, the party not satisfied with the award or any part of the award may file exceptions thereto. The exceptions shall be in writing and shall specify the errors committed: Provided, That only errors of law apparent on the record may be assigned and be considered by the court. After such exceptions have been filed, the case shall be ready for hearing.
Section 10. At the expiration of ten days from the decision of the Court of First Instance upon exceptions taken to the award as aforesaid, judgment shall be entered in accordance with said decision, unless during said ten days either party shall appeal therefrom to the Supreme Court of the Philippine Islands. In such case the party appealing shall file an action in writing of his intention with the clerk of the Court of First Instance within the period herein provided. After such notice is filed, the clerk of court shall forthwith transmit to the Supreme Court such portion of the records as shall be necessary to the proper understanding and consideration of the questions presented by the exceptions. The mode of hearing before the Supreme Court shall be the same as that prescribed before the Court of First Instance in the preceding section.
Section 11. Upon the determination of the Supreme Court on said questions being certified by the clerk thereof to the Court of First Instance, judgment pursuant thereto shall be entered by the latter court.1aшphi1
Section 12. If exceptions to an award are finally sustained, judgment shall be entered setting aside the award in whole or in part; but in such case the parties may agree upon upon a judgment to be entered disposing of the subject matter of the controversy, which judgment when entered shall have the same force and effect as judgment entered upon an award.
Section 13. Nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to require a tenant or an employee or laborer to render personal service without his consent, and no injunction or other legal process shall be issued which shall compel the performance by any tenant or employee or laborer against his will of a contract for personal labor or service.
Section 14. Whenever a receiver appointed by any court is in possession and control of the farm or estate of a landlord or the business of an employer, the tenants of such landlord or the employees or laborers of such employer shall have the right to be heard through their representatives in such court upon all questions affecting the terms and conditions of any contract entered into between said tenants and landlord, or between said employees or laborers and employer; and no modifications or alterations in the terms or conditions of any contract between the tenants and their landlord, nor any reduction of wages of the employees or laborers of such employer, shall be made by such receiver without the authority of the court therefor, after notice to such tenants or employees or laborers, said notice to be given not less than twenty days before the hearing upon the receiver's petition or application.
Section 15. Noncompliance with any of the terms of the agreement of the parties as provided in this Act, or of the award after it has become final, may subject the offending party to liability for damages to be recovered in ordinary action.
Section 16. The Court of First Instance and the Supreme Court shall hear cases arising or brought under the provisions of this Act in preference to all other cases, and decide them as soon as practicable.
Section 17. This Act shall take effect on its approval.
Approved, February 27, 1933.
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