Upholding Dignity: Supreme Court Bars HIV-Based Dismissal of Filipino Workers in the case of Bison Marketing Corporation vs. AAA
by: Deanne Lawrence Tano[1]
Every day, more than fifty Filipinos are newly diagnosed with HIV, as reported by the Department of Health (DOH) and UNAIDS.[2] Recent DOH statistics place the figure at fifty-seven new infections daily, rendering the Philippines the country with the fastest-growing HIV epidemic in the Asia-Pacific region.[3] While medical advances have transformed HIV into a manageable condition, stigma, discrimination, and prejudice in the workplace continue to undermine the rights and welfare of people living with HIV (PLHIV).[4] For overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), the consequences are even more severe, as mandatory medical examinations abroad often result in immediate dismissal, repatriation, and attendant stigma.
This reality runs counter with the mandate of the 1987 Philippine Constitution. Article XIII, Section 3 unequivocally guarantees “full protection to labor, local and overseas,”[5] thereby ensuring that no Filipino worker, whether employed within the country or abroad, may be divested of the fundamental rights to self-organization, security of tenure, humane conditions of work, and a living wage. The constitutional duty of the State to protect labor is not diminished by the fact of overseas employment.
Statutory law reinforces this constitutional command. Republic Act No. 11166, or the Philippine HIV and AIDS Policy Act, expressly proscribes discrimination against individuals on the basis of their actual, perceived, or suspected HIV status. The statute prohibits the rejection of job applications, termination of employment, and the imposition of discriminatory policies in hiring, promotion, assignment, or provision of benefits where such acts are grounded on HIV status. The law recognizes that such discrimination constitutes an affront to human dignity, undermines public health, and is deemed inimical to national interest.
In a Decision penned by Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa, the Supreme Court in Bison Management Corporation v. AAA declared the dismissal of AAA, an overseas Filipino worker (OFW), invalid for being discriminatory. AAA was deployed in October 2017 to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a cleaning laborer under a two-year contract through Bison Management Corporation (Bison). After fifteen months of service, AAA underwent a routine medical examination in January 2019, where he tested positive for HIV. On this basis, his foreign employer terminated his employment pursuant to Saudi laws classifying HIV-positive individuals as unfit for work, and he was repatriated to the Philippines in February 2019.
AAA thereafter filed a complaint for illegal dismissal, which the Labor Arbiter dismissed. On appeal, however, the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) reversed and held Bison, its president, and its foreign recruitment agency Saraja Al Jazirah Contracting Est. liable for illegal dismissal. The Court of Appeals sustained the NLRC’s ruling, prompting Bison to elevate the matter to the Supreme Court.
On August 14, 2024, the Court ruled that AAA was illegally dismissed and entitled to salaries for the unexpired portion of his contract and moral and exemplary damages, among others. Under Section 49(a) of RA 11166, it is unlawful for employees to be terminated from work solely on the basis of HIV status.
Since Philippine law prohibits the use of a person’s HIV-positive condition as a ground for dismissal, there was no valid cause to terminate AAA. Further, if the foreign law in the employment contract contradicts Philippine law, morals, good customs, public order, or public policy, then Philippine law shall apply. In this case, even if it is proven that Saudi Arabian law prohibits workers who test positive for HIV, RA 11166 takes precedence for being against Philippine law.
The ruling in Bison Management v. AAA is profoundly relevant for Filipino workers, both in the Philippines and abroad, as it reaffirms the constitutional and statutory guarantees of labor protection regardless of place of employment. By declaring that termination on the sole basis of HIV status is not legal under Philippine law, the Supreme Court underscored that overseas employment does not strip a worker of security of tenure, dignity, and equality of opportunity.
For SALIGAN, which has consistently advanced the defense of workers’ rights, the ruling constitutes a significant jurisprudential precedent in labor protection. It affirms SALIGAN’s advocacy to safeguard Filipino workers—particularly those in vulnerable and marginalized conditions—against discrimination and unlawful dismissal.
This decision is more than a remedy for one individual—it is an affirmation of the law itself: that the protections enshrined in the Constitution and embodied in RA 11166 remain operative even when workers are deployed overseas, and that discriminatory practices, whether cloaked as foreign policy or employer prerogative, cannot prevail over Philippine public policy. In doing so, the Court sent a powerful message that the mantle of protection guaranteed by law follows every Filipino worker, ensuring that human rights, justice, and fairness travel with them wherever they may earn a living.
[1] Deanne Lawrence Tano is currently a third-year law student of Ateneo de Davao University. She completed her initial CLEP placement with SALIGAN from August 6 to October 10, 2025, and is now continuing her CLEP for a second semester with SALIGAN.
[2] News releases – doh: Intensified programs vs HIV already being carried out. (n.d.). https://pco.gov.ph/news_releases/doh-intensified-programs-vs-hiv-already-being-carried-out/
[3] Flores, D. N. (2025, June 3). DOH: HIV surge a “bigger threat” than mpox, 56 cases daily. Philstar.com. https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2025/06/03/2447900/doh-hiv-surge-bigger-threat-mpox-56-cases-daily?
[4] Human Rights Watch. (2018, February 9). Philippines: Discrimination against workers with HIV. Human Rights Watch. https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/02/09/philippines-discrimination-against-workers-hiv
[5] 1987 Philippine Constitution. Article XIII, Section 3