NEWS
13November
Bangsamoro Parliament approves landmark Labor and Employment Code, boosting workers’ protections
- Nov 13, 2025
- Taher G. Solaiman
- HITS: 1094
The BLEC, certified as urgent by Chief Minister Abdulraof Macacua, swiftly passed on November 12 with all 39 members present voting in favor, just a day after its second reading approval. Authored by MPs Romeo Sema, Raissa Jajurie, Jose Lorena, and others, the BLEC has garnered recognition from the International Labor Organization (ILO).
This comprehensive code establishes the region's first complete labor and employment framework, designed to protect workers’ rights, promote decent work, and ensure industrial peace based on social justice. It tailors national labor laws to reflect Bangsamoro culture, faith, and unique regional employment conditions.
The BLEC grants the Ministry of Labor and Employment (MOLE) expanded powers to regulate recruitment, enforce workplace safety, set minimum wages, and resolve disputes through the newly formed Bangsamoro Labor Conciliation and Arbitration Board (BLCAB). This one-stop dispute settlement mechanism will keep workers from needing to seek justice outside the BARMM, said Committee on Labor and Employment Chairperson Alindatu Pagayao.
The BLCAB, along with the Bangsamoro Voluntary Arbitration Tripartite Council (BVATC) and the Special Voluntary Arbitration Fund, will use negotiation, mediation, arbitration, and conciliation to resolve labor disputes quickly and affordably. Functioning as a combination of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) and the National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB), the BLCAB will feature a three-member board of arbitrators and conciliator-mediators to oversee grievances, preventive mediation, union busting, and unfair labor practices.
The code also strengthens protections for vulnerable workers, including persons with disabilities, the elderly, and those in the informal economy, by providing access to social protection, livelihood programs, and employment assistance. It institutionalizes the religious and cultural rights of workers by recognizing prayer breaks, worship spaces, adjusted work schedules during Ramadan, and pilgrimage leave for Hajj or Umrah.
Additional benefits include bereavement, quarantine, and gynecological leave, as well as the “right to disconnect” after work hours. The law also mandates lactation stations, female quarters, child-minding areas, and access to PhilHealth and Pag-IBIG Fund benefits.
To promote safe workplaces, the code requires employers to prevent gender-based violence and harassment and authorizes MOLE to conduct spontaneous inspections. The BLEC also simplifies employment classifications to ensure job security and bans labor-only contracting.
Sema hailed the BLEC as a “primordial initiative” that establishes an inclusive, rights-based approach to labor governance in the BARMM.
Once implemented, the BLEC will serve as the primary labor law in the Bangsamoro, with the national Labor Code applying only in cases not covered by the regional code.
Time in Cotabato
Most Read
