50 Years Na! Senators Want the Labor Code Updated for the AI and Gig Economy Era
The Philippine Labor Code has been around for half a century — and senators say it's high time for a major upgrade. On Tuesday, Senators Risa Hontiveros and Francis Pangilinan pushed for a comprehensive overhaul of the 50-year-old law to address the realities of modern work: artificial intelligence, gig economy jobs, freelancing, and platform-based employment.
The Senate Committee on Constitutional Amendments and Revision of Codes, chaired by Pangilinan, tackled the proposed Revised Labor Code along with the Revised Government Auditing Act. Pangilinan said the updated code would make "workers' rights easier to understand, easier to claim, and easier to enforce" — a bold promise for a country where labor disputes can drag on for years.
Hontiveros pointed out that the current Labor Code was written long before contractualization, online work, and the gig economy became everyday realities. She called for integrating international labor standards and closing policy gaps that leave workers vulnerable — especially amid rising oil prices, the threat of AI displacing jobs, and global conflicts affecting the economy.
The proposed revamp would also synchronize the Labor Code with recent laws like the Expanded Maternity Leave Law, Expanded Solo Parents Welfare Law, and the Anti-POGO Act. Hontiveros also took aim at the glacial pace of resolving labor cases, saying the "snail-like resolution of thousands of labor cases, which helps perpetuate labor injustices, must end."
Pangilinan also pushed for modernizing the nearly 50-year-old Audit Code to give the Commission on Audit the tools to monitor digital transactions, public-private partnerships, and off-budget spending. With Filipino workers facing challenges from every direction — from AI to oil crises to contractualization — the senators' message is urgent: the law needs to keep up with the times.
Source: The Manila Times
