PRUDENCIO TANJUAN vs. PHILIPPINE POSTAL SAVINGS BANK, INC [G.R. No. 155278. September 16, 2003.]
PANGANIBAN, J.:
FACTS: Petitioner Prudencio Tanjuan was employed by respondent Philippine Postal Savings Bank, Inc. (PPSBI), a government financing institution and a subsidiary of the Philippine Postal Corporation (Philpost), as Property Appraisal Specialist and Officer-in-Charge of its Credit
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Supervision and Control Department. Respondent Pedrito Torres, PPSBI President and CEO, issued Memorandum 145-98 addressed to petitioner and five other employees belonging to its Account Management Dept and Credit Supervision and Control Dept. charging them with negligence in the performance of duties and misrepresentation in violation of the bank’s rules for approving the applications for loan of Corinthian de Tagaytay and Clavecilla Marine Service. They were given five days to submit written explanations. Petitioner submitted his explanation alleging that he merely validated the findings of the Property Appraiser.
Respondent Torres informed petitioner of his preventive suspension for a period of 90 days in view of the pending administrative investigation against him. Petitioner countered that the preventive suspension should not exceed 30 days as stated in the Labor Code. Respondent Torres issued OP Order No. 011-99 amending of the order of preventive suspension against the former from 90 days to 30 days.
The Board of Directors of PPSBI approved the bank’s reorganization via retrenchment of employees and re-alignment of functions and positions for the purpose of preventing further business losses. Torres wrote a letter addressed to all employees informing them of the impending reorganization and enjoining them to apply for their desired positions. Petitioner did not apply for any position in the new organizational set-up. Petitioner then received a Notice of Termination informing him that his employment shall cease 30 calendar days from date of receipt of notice on the ground of abolition of the position. Petitioner filed a case of illegal dismissal with money claims.
The Labor Arbiter rendered a decision declaring PPSBI guilty of illegal dismissal and ordering it to reinstate petitioner to his former position, which may have a new title. Respondent appealed the decision to the NLRC stating that the arbiter hastily decided the case even if they did not adduce evidence to support their claim of business losses. They presented audited consolidated statements of conditions, income and loss statements, statement of financial conditions, and COA annual audit report among other things.
NLRC issued a resolution admitting the evidence presented by respondents on appeal and finding the same adequate to prove the existence of serious business losses. Dissatisfied with the ruling of the NLRC, petitioner elevated the case to CA. The CA affirmed the NLRC ruling.
ISSUES:
(1) Whether or not the respondent PPSBI is barred from attaching as annexes to the Memorandum on Appeal evidence not submitted to the Labor Arbiter;
(2) Whether or not the petitioner was validly terminated.
HELD:
(1) No. It is well settled that the NLRC is not precluded from receiving evidence even for the first time on appeal, because technical rules of procedure are not binding in labor cases. This rule applies equally to both the employee and the employer. In the interest of due process, the Labor Code directs labor officials to use all reasonable means to ascertain the facts speedily and objectively with little regard to technicalities and formalities. However, delay in the submission of evidence should be clearly explained and should adequately provide the employer’s allegation of the cause of termination. In the instant case, the respondents reserved the right to introduce evidence to the labor arbiter, if and when required to do so. Reasons of confidentiality and the volatile nature of PPSBI’s business as a banking institution prompted respondents to limit the presentation of evidence at the outset. Indeed it would be foolhardy for the NLRC and the CA to reject the evidence, just because it had not been presented before the labor arbiter. Such evidence was absolutely necessary to resolve the issue of whether the petitioner’s employment was validly terminated.
(2) Yes. The petitioner was validly terminated on the reason of serious business losses.
Both the NLRC and the CA found that the audited financial statements submitted by respondents adequately supported their claim of actual, real, and substantial losses. The findings of the CA,
affirming those of the NLRC showed real and grave financial reverses, which made downsizing the only recourse for the bank to follow. Indeed, retrenchment of the petitioner was the consequence of the bank’s reorganization and a cost saving device recognized by jurisprudence.
ART. 221: TECHNICALITIES ARE NOT STRICTLY APPLIED IN LABOR CASES VAN MELLE PHILS. vs. VICTOR M. ENDAYA
[G.R. No. 143132. September 23, 2003.]
CALLEJO, SR., J.:
FACTS: Victor Endaya filed a Complaint with the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) against Van Melle Phils., Inc. (VMPI) for Illegal Dismissal/Constructive Dismissal. Instead of filing an Answer to the complaint, petitioners filed a motion to dismiss the same on the ground that the SEC, and not the labor arbiter, had jurisdiction over the complaint pursuant to Section 5 of P.D. No. 902-A. They claimed that the controversy between the complainant and the respondents was an intra-corporate controversy, involving as it was the election of a intra-corporate officer of the respondent VMPI.
The respondent opposed the motion to dismiss, insisting that the NLRC, not the SEC, had exclusive jurisdiction over the complaint because his dismissal as president and general manager of the respondent VMPI was not effected through a resolution of the Board of Directors and, therefore, was not a corporate act. He averred that his dismissal could not be considered as an intra-corporate controversy because no such election or appointment of Niels Have or his representative took place. He also averred that he was constructively dismissed by his immediate superior because of racial discrimination. He insisted that the dispute between him and the respondents was a labor dispute, within the context of Article 212, Paragraph 1 of the Labor Code of the Philippines; hence, the case was within the exclusive jurisdiction of the NLRC.
Labor Arbiter Manuel P. Asuncion issued an order stating that the ground invoked by the respondents therein in their motion to dismiss was treated as a matter of defense considering that the intricate issues involved in the said motion were legal and factual, necessitating the presentation of the respective contentions of the parties in evidence. The labor arbiter held the resolution of the motion in abeyance until after the parties submitted their respective position papers.
The petitioners filed with the Court of Appeals (CA) a petition for certiorari with a prayer for injunctive relief against the complainant and the labor arbiter. The CA issued a Resolution denying due course and dismissing the petition for failure of the petitioners to comply with Section 3, Rule 46 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure. The petitioners filed a motion for reconsideration of the CA resolution. The CA denied the petitioners' motion for reconsideration. Hence the present petition.
ISSUE: Whether the labor arbiter had exclusive jurisdiction over a complaint involving the election of a member of the board of directors and a corporate officer, patently an intra-corporate controversy between the private respondent and the petitioners, and a matter within the exclusive jurisdiction of the SEC as provided for in a Sec. 5 of Presidential Decree No. 902-A.
HELD: The petition is meritorious. SC agree with the petitioners that even assuming that the Rules require all attachments to a petition for certiorari to be certified true copies, the CA should have nevertheless taken cognizance of the petition. It has been the consistent holding of the Supreme Court that cases should be determined on the merits, after full opportunity to all parties for ventilation of their causes and defenses, rather than on technicality or some procedural imperfections. In so doing, the ends of justice would be better served. Rules of procedure are mere tools designed to expedite the decision or resolution of cases and other matters pending in court. A
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strict and rigid application of the rules that would result in technicalities that tend to frustrate rather than promote substantial justice must be avoided.
Thus, in dismissing the petition before it, the appellate court clearly put a premium on technicalities and simply brushed aside the issue posed by the petitioners — whether the labor arbiter committed a grave abuse of his discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction in denying the respondent's motion to dismiss on the ground that the SEC (now the RTC) had exclusive jurisdiction over the said complaint.