Erwin Tulfo seeks safeguards for workers displaced by AI

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Erwin Tulfo has filed a bill that seeks to provide safeguards for employees displaced by artificial intelligence (AI) amid reports of massive layoffs as companies adopt AI in their operations.

While acknowledging that technological progress is inevitable, Tulfo, who chairs the Senate Committee on Social Justice, Welfare, and Rural Development, stressed that Filipino workers should not be left behind or made to bear its costs alone.

“As companies adopt AI, employees whose jobs become redundant risk losing not only their employment but also their means of supporting their families,” Tulfo said in a statement on Sunday.

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Tulfo’s Senate Bill No. 2563 seeks to amend Article 298 of Presidential Decree No. 442, otherwise known as the Labor Code of the Philippines, to provide safeguards for employees displaced by AI-driven automation.

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Under the proposed measure, an employer may terminate or lay off an employee due to the installation or implementation of AI technologies or systems that render the employee’s position redundant only after complying with the following conditions:

• There must be a bona fide introduction or implementation of AI technologies or systems;
• AI implementation must be undertaken in good faith;
• The purpose of introducing or implementing AI must be valid, such as saving costs, enhancing efficiency or pursuing other justifiable economic reasons;
• No other option must be available to the employer apart from introducing or implementing AI technologies and consequently terminating the employee; and
• There must be fair and reasonable criteria for selecting employees to be terminated.

“There must be a proactive effort to keep workers away from termination just because AI comes in. We are not only talking about careers here, we are concerned with the livelihood and lives of the employees’ families,” Tulfo said.

The measure also requires fair separation pay, opportunities for reskilling and redeployment, and advance notice and consultation before affected workers are terminated. /mcm