Home of ChanRobles Virtual Law Library

PHILIPPINE SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

THIRD DIVISION

[G.R. No. 196426 : August 15, 2011]

MARTICIO SEMBLANTE AND DUBRICK PILAR, PETITIONERS, VS. COURT OF APPEALS, 19TH DIVISION, NOW SPECIAL FORMER 19TH DIVISION, GALLERA DE MANDAUE / SPOUSES VICENTE AND MARIA LUISA LOOT, RESPONDENTS.

D E C I S I O N


VELASCO JR., J.:

Before Us is a Petition for Review on Certiorari under Rule 45, assailing and seeking to set aside the Decision1 and Resolution2 dated May 29, 2009 and February 23, 2010, respectively, of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 03328. The CA affirmed the October 18, 2006 Resolution3 of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), Fourth Division (now Seventh Division), in NLRC Case No. V-000673-2004.

Petitioners Marticio Semblante (Semblante) and Dubrick Pilar (Pilar) assert that they were hired by respondents-spouses Vicente and Maria Luisa Loot, the owners of Gallera de Mandaue (the cockpit), as the official masiador and sentenciador, respectively, of the cockpit sometime in 1993.

As the masiador, Semblante calls and takes the bets from the gamecock owners and other bettors and orders the start of the cockfight. He also distributes the winnings after deducting the arriba, or the commission for the cockpit. Meanwhile, as the sentenciador, Pilar oversees the proper gaffing of fighting cocks, determines the fighting cocks’ physical condition and capabilities to continue the cockfight, and eventually declares the result of the cockfight.4

For their services as masiador and sentenciador, Semblante receives PhP 2,000 per week or a total of PhP 8,000 per month, while Pilar gets PhP 3,500 a week or PhP 14,000 per month. They work every Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday every week, excluding monthly derbies and cockfights held on special holidays. Their working days start at 1:00 p.m. and last until 12:00 midnight, or until the early hours of the morning depending on the needs of the cockpit. Petitioners had both been issued employees’ identification cards5 that they wear every time they report for duty. They alleged never having incurred any infraction and/or violation of the cockpit rules and regulations.

On November 14, 2003, however, petitioners were denied entry into the cockpit upon the instructions of respondents, and were informed of the termination of their services effective that date. This prompted petitioners to file a complaint for illegal dismissal against respondents.

In answer, respondents denied that petitioners were their employees and alleged that they were associates of respondents’ independent contractor, Tomas Vega. Respondents claimed that petitioners have no regular working time or day and they are free to decide for themselves whether to report for work or not on any cockfighting day. In times when there are few cockfights in Gallera de Mandaue, petitioners go to other cockpits in the vicinity. Lastly, petitioners, so respondents assert, were only issued identification cards to indicate that they were free from the normal entrance fee and to differentiate them from the general public.6

In a Decision dated June 16, 2004, Labor Arbiter Julie C. Rendoque found petitioners to be regular employees of respondents as they performed work that was necessary and indispensable to the usual trade or business of respondents for a number of years. The Labor Arbiter also ruled that petitioners were illegally dismissed, and so ordered respondents to pay petitioners their backwages and separation pay.7

Respondents’ counsel received the Labor Arbiter's Decision on September 14, 2004. And within the 10-day appeal period, he filed the respondents’ appeal with the NLRC on September 24, 2004, but without posting a cash or surety bond equivalent to the monetary award granted by the Labor Arbiter.8

It was only on October 11, 2004 that respondents filed an appeal bond dated October 6, 2004. Hence, in a Resolution9 dated August 25, 2005, the NLRC denied the appeal for its non-perfection.

Subsequently, however, the NLRC, acting on respondents’ Motion for Reconsideration, reversed its Resolution on the postulate that their appeal was meritorious and the filing of an appeal bond, albeit belated, is a substantial compliance with the rules.   The NLRC held in its Resolution of October 18, 2006 that there was no employer-employee relationship between petitioners and respondents, respondents having no part in the selection and engagement of petitioners, and that no separate individual contract with respondents was ever executed by petitioners.10

Following the denial by the NLRC of their Motion for Reconsideration, per Resolution dated January 12, 2007, petitioners went to the CA on a petition for certiorari. In support of their petition, petitioners argued that the NLRC gravely abused its discretion in entertaining an appeal that was not perfected in the first place. On the other hand, respondents argued that the NLRC did not commit grave abuse of discretion, since they eventually posted their appeal bond and that their appeal was so meritorious warranting the relaxation of the rules in the interest of justice.11

In its Decision dated May 29, 2009, the appellate court found for respondents, noting that referees and bet-takers in a cockfight need to have the kind of expertise that is characteristic of the game to interpret messages conveyed by mere gestures. Hence, petitioners are akin to independent contractors who possess unique skills, expertise, and talent to distinguish them from ordinary employees. Further, respondents did not supply petitioners with the tools and instrumentalities they needed to perform work. Petitioners only needed their unique skills and talents to perform their job as masiador and sentenciador.12 The CA held:

In some circumstances, the NLRC is allowed to be liberal in the interpretation of the rules in deciding labor cases. In this case, the appeal bond was filed, although late. Moreover, an exceptional circumstance obtains in the case at bench which warrants a relaxation of the bond requirement as a condition for perfecting the appeal. This case is highly meritorious that propels this Court not to strictly apply the rules and thus prevent a grave injustice from being done.

As elucidated by the NLRC, the circumstances obtaining in this case wherein no actual employer-employee exists between the petitioners and the private respondents [constrain] the relaxation of the rules. In this regard, we find no grave abuse attributable to the administrative body.

x x x x

Petitioners are duly licensed masiador
Top of Page