Observation (CEACR) - adopted 2024, published 113rd ILC session (2025)

Plantations Convention, 1958 (No. 110) - Philippines (Ratification: 1968)

The Committee notes that the Ministry of Agriculture has developed a number of road maps, covering the period 2021–25, for the banana, cocoa, coconut and coffee industries. While noting that the principal objectives of these road maps are: (1) to increase productivity in order to ensure better food security; and (2) to modify cultivation techniques in order to support small producers, improve supply chains and maintain the competitiveness of the agricultural sector internationally, the Committee hopes that, in the pursuit of these objectives, the Government will take fully into account the provisions of the Convention.

Part V (Annual holidays with pay), Articles 36–42 of the Convention. The Committee recalls that, according to the information provided by the Government in successive reports, certain categories of plantation workers are not covered by holidays with pay and service incentive leave. These categories include field personnel and other workers whose time and performance are not supervised by the employer, including those engaged on a task or contract basis, a purely commission basis, or those paid a fixed amount for performing work irrespective of hours worked. For other workers, labour inspections are conducted on a regular basis, labour advisories disseminated and media campaigns run to remind employers of the need to grant workers holidays with pay and “service incentive” leave. In its most recent report, the Government merely indicates that the provisions of the Labour Code on holidays with pay apply to all workers, including those in the agriculture sector. However, the report does not provide any information on measures taken or envisaged to ensure the rights under this part of the Convention to the workers mentioned earlier whose work is not supervised by the employer. In addition, the report provides information regarding non-working public holidays and public holidays which, under certain conditions specific to the aforementioned section, are worked and remunerated at an additional premium of 100 per cent. The Committee therefore recalls once again that the Convention requires all plantation workers – regardless of the manner in which their work is organized or supervised – to be granted annual holidays with pay after a period of continuous service with the same employer. The Committee therefore hopes that the Government will not fail to provide information in its next report on the measures taken or envisaged to extend the application of this part of the Convention to all categories of plantation workers.The Committee further requests the Government to indicate whether this matter is addressed in the context of the implementation of the above-mentioned road maps developed for the banana, cocoa, coconut and coffee industries. The Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention to Decent work on plantations (available in English only) and Decent work deficits among rural workers, ILO publications which outline recommendations noting that a large proportion of workers on plantations are employed informally and, consequently, are deprived of social protection and fundamental rights at work. In addition, workers frequently face difficult working conditions, including excessive working hours, low wages and lack of annual holidays with pay. Furthermore, rural workers, including plantation workers, have limited access to essential public services such as health and education. There are significant inequalities, including in terms of gender and socio-economic status, that affect access to decent jobs. Economic and health crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have exacerbated the existing vulnerabilities of rural workers, making their employment more precarious. The studies mentioned above contain good practices and recommendations for the development and implementation of national policies for decent work in the plantation sector and call, inter alia, for strengthening public policies to formalize employment, improve working conditions and guarantee access to basic social services.

Part XI (Labour inspection), Articles 71–84. The Committee notes the statistical information on the number of inspections carried out in 2019 and 2020. It notes in particular the adoption of Department Order No. 238, Series 2023, which strengthens the visiting and enforcement powers of the Secretary of Labour and Employment with a view to ensuring a higher level of compliance with labour legislation, safety and health and other social legislation. In addition, with regard to inspections conducted specifically on plantations, the Committee notes the Government’s indication that the authority responsible for statistics (Philippines Statistics Authority – PSA) uses the standard industrial classification (Philippine Standard Industrial Classification – PSIC), section A of which covers agriculture and fishing. In order to assess the effective application of the Convention in practice, the Committee requests the Government to provide updated statistical information on inspections conducted specifically on plantations. It also requests the Government to provide information on the type of violations detected and the penalties imposed. In this regard, the Committee wishes to draw the Government’s attention to the ILO’s Guidelines on general principles of labour inspection, which underscore the need: (i) to strengthen labour inspection systems to ensure compliance with labour laws and standards; (ii) to improve the training of labour inspectors and the provision of adequate resources, these being essential for the efficient performance of their tasks; (iii) to strengthen the normative framework to support labour inspection activities and protect inspectors from political interference and other external influences; and (iv) and encourages it to take these guidelines into account when promoting decent working conditions on plantations, including fair wages, safe working conditions and respect for labour rights.