[ Act No. 3085, March 16, 1923 ]

AN ACT TO AMEND ACT NUMBERED TWENTY-FIVE HUNDRED AND FORTY-NINE, ENTITLED "AN ACT PROHIBITING IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS THE FORCING, COMPELLING, OR OBLIGING OF ANY LABORER OR OTHER EMPLOYEE TO PURCHASE MERCHANDISE, COMMODITIES, OR PERSONAL PROPERTY UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS, AND THE PAYMENT OF THE WAGES OF A LABORER OR EMPLOYEE BY MEANS OF TOKENS OR OBJECTS OTHER THAN LEGAL TENDER CURRENCY OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS."

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.  Section  one of  Act Numbered Twenty-five hundred and  forty-nine is hereby  amended to  read  as follows:

"SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, or corporation engaged  in any business or  enterprise in  the Philippine Islands in any manner to force, compel, or oblige any laborer or  other employee  employed by him to purchase merchandise, commodities, or personal property of any kind or nature from such  person, firm, or corporation, or from any other person, firm, or corporation, or pay or cause to be paid the wages  due a laborer or employee, or any part of said wages, by means of tokens, tickets,  chits, or objects  other  than legal tender currency  of the Philippine  Islands: Provided,  That  any contract between employer and  laborer by which  the  latter binds  himself to accept payment  of his wages or any part thereof in tokens, tickets, chits, or other objects,  and any other  contract between them the direct or indirect purpose of which shall be  to  defeat the purposes  of this Act, shall be null and void."

SEC. 2. A new section,  to be known as section 1-a, is hereby inserted  after section one of Act Numbered Twenty- five hundred and forty-nine, which  section  shall read as follows:

"SEC. 1-a. It shall be the duty of the Director of Labor to investigate and  inspect personally  or  through his  delegates the manner in which laborers wages are paid not only in the cities and other industrial centers; but also on the plantations in the various parts of the Islands, and to denounce  any direct or indirect violation of this Act observed in  the course of such investigation or inspection."

SEC. 3. Section two of Act Numbered Twenty-five hundred and  forty-nine is hereby amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 2. Every person violating the provisions of this Act and every member of a firm,  and every director or officer of a corporation, who knowingly  consents to any violation  of this Act or directs the same, shall, for each offense, be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred pesos nor more than one thousand  pesos, or by imprisonment for a period of not less  than one month nor  more than  one  year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court."

SEC. 4. This Act shall take effect on its approval.Approved, March 16, 1923.

Source: Supreme Court E-Library