A bill has been filed in the House of Representatives that aims to protect both interns and regular workers from exploitation by ensuring that internships are fair, safe, and truly educational.
House Bill 5208, or the proposed Magna Carta for Interns, authored by House Special Committee on Food Security chair and Albay Third District Rep. Raymond Adrian E. Salceda, replaces outdated provisions of the Labor Code of the Philippines that treat interns merely as “learners” and creates a modern framework that upholds the welfare of students while maintaining fair labor practices in the workplace.
Under the Magna Carta for Interns, all internship programs must be covered by written agreements among the intern, host entity, and academic institution.
The bill, which was filed on Monday, provides for safe and non-discriminatory workplaces, accident insurance in hazardous assignments, and standard training hours of up to eight hours per day or forty hours per week.
Salceda said the bill also guarantees freedom of internship, allowing students to apply for placements outside school partnerships if these meet safety and learning standards.
The measure includes an Internship Experience Review, which allows interns to assess their learning experience and ensures accountability among schools and host institutions.
The bill also explicitly prohibits replacing regular workers with interns and promotes flexibility in program design to match academic requirements with workplace needs.
“Internships should be bridges to employment, not shortcuts to exploitation,” Salceda said. “We want to protect students, ensure fairness to workers, and promote real learning.”
The measure harmonizes internship standards across the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), and Department of Education (DepEd) to ensure consistency nationwide.
