THIRD DIVISION
G.R. No. 229579, November 14, 2018
BERNARDO B. PACIOS, MARILOU T. ABEDES, ALEXIS L. ELINON, ARMANDO V. ABEDES, GINA P. ARIATE, VIVENCIA N. BUELA, HERMENIGILDO E. CANSINO, ERNESTO DAVIS, ALFREDO G. DELMONTE, JR., ROBERTO F. ESBER, ADELAIDA S. GABRIEL, INES S. GENETIANO, ISMAEL M. IBO, JR., RONIE C. LEAL, JAIME S. MEJIA, MARCELINO P. PENOLIAR, CARLOS D. OLEDAN+, RODELIO A. OSINTA, VIRGILIO M. TORRES, ANTONIO A. VIÑAS, JENNETTE C. VIÑAS, ERIC P. ANDRES+, AND ARMANDO M. DE GUZMAN+, Petitioners, v. TAHANANG WALANG HAGDANAN AND SISTER VALERIANA BAERTS, ICM, Respondents.
D E C I S I O N
LEONEN, J.:
This resolves a Petition for Review on Certiorari1 assailing the Court of Appeals July 22, 2016 Decision2 and January 23, 2017 Resolution3 in CA-G.R. SP No. 142199, praying that the supersedeas bond under custody of the National Labor Relations Commission be released.
Tahanang Walang Hagdanan is a private organization engaged in the business of producing and marketing various handicrafts, utilizing employees who are mostly physically disabled, without one or both limbs. Sister Valeriana Baerts (Baerts) is a nun who recruited Bernardo B. Pacios, Marilou T. Abedes, Alexis L. Elinon, Armando V. Abedes, Gina P. Ariate, Vivencia N. Buela, Hermenigildo E. Cansino, Ernesto Davis, Alfredo G. Delmonte, Jr., Roberto F. Esber, Adelaida S. Gabriel, Ines S. Genetiano, Ismael M. Ibo, Jr., Ronie C. Leal, Jaime S. Mejia, Marcelino P. Penoliar, Carlos D. Oledan, Rodelio A. Osinta, Virgilio M. Torres, Antonio A. Viñas, Jennette C. Viñas, Eric P. Andres, and Armando M. De Guzman (collectively, the workers) to work for Tahanang Walang Hagdanan. They were among the regular employees who were persons with disability of Tahanang Walang Hagdanan for years, until they were dismissed on June 11, 2012.4
Sometime in 2013, the workers filed an "amended complaint for illegal dismissal, underpayment of salary, non-payment of 13th month pay, service incentive leave, separation pay, retirement benefits, with claims for moral damages, exemplary damages[,] and attorney's fees"5 against Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, Pangarap Sheltered Home for Disabled People, Inc. (Pangarap), Venus Amoncio (Amoncio), and Baerts. This was docketed as NLRC-NCR Case No. 07-10328-12.6
On October 24, 2013, the Labor Arbiter rendered a Decision in favor of the workers, and ordered that Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, Pangarap, Amoncio, and Baerts pay them P16,629,163.63. The dispositive portion of the Decision read:
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WHEREFORE, premises considered judgment is hereby rendered ordering respondents Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, Inc., and/or Sister Valeriana Baerts (ICM) and/or Venus Amoncio to pay complainants the total amount of P16,629,163.63 as computed by the NLRC Computation and Examination Unit which shall form part of this Decision as Appendix "A".
SO ORDERED.7
IN VIEW WHEREOF, the instant Petition for Certiorari is GRANTED. The National Labor Relations Commission, 5th Division's 25 February 2014 Resolution, 21 May 2014 Order and 18 July 2014 Resolution in NLRC LAC No. 01-00029-14 which dismissed petitioner's (sic) appeal are hereby REVERSED and SET ASIDE.
Let the appeal bond consisting of Php40,000.00 cash bond and a Php1,622,916.37 supersedeas bond secured from Meridian Assurance Corporation be deemed sufficient and reasonable to perfect petitioners' appeal, in the interest of substantial justice. Consequently, petitioners' appeal is hereby declared REINSTATED.12
Section 17. Effect of Reversal During Execution Proceedings. — In case of total or partial reversal of judgment by the Court of Appeals, the execution proceedings shall be suspended insofar as the reversal is concerned notwithstanding the pendency of a motion for reconsideration on such judgment.
However, where the judgment of the Court of Appeals is reversed by the Supreme Court, execution proceedings shall commence upon presentation of certified true copy of the decision and entry of judgment.
Section 4. Effect of Petition for Certiorari on Execution. — A petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals or the Supreme Court shall not stay the execution of the assailed decision unless a restraining order is issued by said courts.
WHEREFORE, the herein respondents' appeal is hereby DISMISSED for lack of merit. The assailed Decision dated October 24, 2013 of Labor Arbiter Arden S. Anni, is AFFIRMED SUBJECT TO THE MODIFICATION that individual respondents are RELIEVED from any liability relative to the judgment award against respondent Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, Inc.
SO ORDERED.31 (Emphasis in the original)
Section 3. Effect of Perfection of Appeal on Execution. — The perfection of an appeal shall stay the execution of the decision of the Labor Arbiter except execution for reinstatement pending appeal.
In Mcburnie v. Ganzon, the guideline set in treating motions to reduce bond are the following:
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- The motions must be based on meritorious grounds; and
- a reasonable amount of the appeal bond is posted.
However, it is apparent from the assailed Resolutions and Order that the NLRC substantially deviates from the mandate contained in the Mcburnie case. Glaringly, the denial of petitioners' motion to reduce bail is focused only on the determination of the amount of the appeal bond. The duty to determine the motion's meritorious grounds required was not passed upon.
The Supreme Court is clear on what meritorious grounds refer to, viz:"The requirement on the existence of a 'meritorious ground' delves on the worth of the parties' arguments, taking into account their respective rights and the circumstances that attend the case. The condition was emphasized in University Plans Incorporated v. Solano, wherein the Court held that while the NLRC's Revised Rules of Procedure 'allows the [NLRC] to reduce the amount of the bond, the exercise of the authority is not a matter of right on the part of the movant, but lies within the sound discretion of the NLRC upon a showing of meritorious grounds.' By jurisprudence, the merit referred to may pertain to an appellant's lack of financial capability to pay the full amount of the bond, the merits of the main appeal such as when there is a valid claim that there was no illegal dismissal to justify the award, the absence of an employer-employee relationship, prescription of claims, and other similarly valid issues that are raised in the appeal. For the purpose of determining a 'meritorious ground', the NLRC is not precluded from receiving evidence, or from making a preliminary determination of the merits of the appellant's contentions."
In the case at bench, the NLRC disregarded petitioners' explanation anent its incapacity to comply with the requirements of the bonding company and refused to render a preliminary determination of the merits of petitioners' appeal. The Supreme Court held that the NLRC's failure to take action on the motion to reduce the bond in the manner prescribed by law and jurisprudence cannot be countenanced.
The reminder is worded, thus:
ChanRoblesVirtualawlibrary". . . Time and again, the Court has cautioned the NLRC to give Article 223 of the Labor Code, particularly the provisions requiring bonds in appeals involving monetary awards, a liberal interpretation in line with the desired objective of resolving controversies on the merits. The NLRC's failure to take action on the motion to reduce the bond in the manner prescribed by law and jurisprudence then cannot be countenanced. Although an appeal by parties from decisions that are adverse to their interests is neither a natural right nor a part of due process, it is an essential part of our judicial system. Courts should proceed with caution so as not to deprive a party of the right to appeal, but rather, ensure that every party has the amplest opportunity for the proper and just disposition of their cause, free from the constraints of technicalities. Considering the mandate of labor tribunals, the principle equally applies to them."
In the proceeding before the NLRC, it cannot be gainsaid that petitioners posted the provisional bond equivalent to 10% of the monetary award. The NLRC's insistence on the posting of the full amount of the monetary award without looking into the meritorious grounds aspect required under its Rules and jurisprudence amounts to an "evasion or refusal to perform its positive duty enjoined by law." The NLRC has gravely abused its discretion on this account.
....
The grounds raised in the petitioners' Memorandum on Appeal require a judicious and complete determination on the merits which can be properly addressed on appeal. Certiorari, being an extraordinary remedy exclusively reserved for the correction of jurisdictional errors of courts and tribunals, is inadequate to address the Labor Arbiter's alleged errors of judgment in the appealed 24 October 2013 Decision in NLRC Case No. 07-10328-12.40 (Emphasis in the original)
Before its amendment by Section 12 of R.A. No. 6716, Article 223 of the Labor Code already allowed execution of decisions of the NLRC pending their appeal to the Secretary of Labor and Employment.
In authorizing execution pending appeal of the reinstatement aspect of a decision of the Labor Arbiter reinstating a dismissed or separated employee, the law itself has laid down a compassionate policy which, once more, vivifies and enhances the provisions of the 1987 Constitution on labor and the workingman.
These provisions are the quintessence of the aspirations of the workingman for recognition of his role in the social and economic life of the nation, for the protection of his rights, and the promotion of his welfare. Thus, in the Article on Social Justice and Human Rights of the Constitution, which principally directs Congress to give highest priority to the enactment of measures that protect and enhance the right of all people to human dignity, reduce social, economic, and political inequalities, and remove cultural inequities by equitably diffusing wealth and political power for the common good, the State is mandated to afford full protection to labor, local and overseas, organized and unorganized, and promote full employment and equality of employment opportunities for all; to guarantee the rights of all workers to self-organization, collective bargaining and negotiations, and peaceful concerted activities, including the right to strike in accordance with law, security of tenure, human conditions of work, and a living wage, to participate in policy and decision-making processes affecting their rights and benefits as may be provided by law; and to promote the principle of shared responsibility between workers and employers and the preferential use of voluntary modes in settling disputes. Incidentally, a study of the Constitutions of various nations readily reveals that it is only our Constitution which devotes a separate article on Social Justice and Human Rights. Thus, by no less than its fundamental law, the Philippines has laid down the strong foundations of a truly just and humane society. This Article addresses itself to specified areas of concern — labor, agrarian and natural resources reform, urban land reform and housing, health, working women, and people's organizations—and reaches out to the underprivileged sector of society, for which reason the President of the Constitutional Commission of 1986, former Associate Justice of this Court Cecilia Muñoz-Palma, aptly describes this Article as the "heart of the new Charter."
These duties and responsibilities of the State are imposed not so much to express sympathy for the workingman as to forcefully and meaningfully underscore labor as a primary social and economic force, which the Constitution also expressly affirms with equal intensity. Labor is an indispensable partner for the nation's progress and stability.
If in ordinary civil actions execution of judgment pending appeal is authorized for reasons the determination of which is merely left to the discretion of the judge, We find no plausible reason to withhold it in cases of decisions reinstating dismissed or separated employees. In such cases, the poor employees had been deprived of their only source of livelihood, their only means of support for their family — their very lifeblood. To Us, this special circumstance is far better than any other which a judge, in his sound discretion, may determine. In short, with respect to decisions reinstating employees, the law itself has determined a sufficiently overwhelming reason for its execution pending appea1.42 (Citations omitted)
Endnotes:
+ Passed away during the pendency of the proceedings below.
1 Rollo, pp. 3-18.
2 Id. at 23-29. The Decision was penned by Associate Justice Socorro B. Inting and concurred in by Associate Justices Priscilla J. Baltazar-Padilla and Francisco P. Acosta of the Special Second Division, Court of Appeals, Manila.
3 Id. at 20-21. The Resolution was penned by Associate Justice Socorro B. Inting and concurred in by Associate Justices Priscilla J. Baltazar-Padilla and Francisco P. Acosta of the Former Special Second Division, Court of Appeals, Manila.
4 Id. at 5-6.
5 Id. at 24.
6 Id.
7 Id. at 24-25.
8 Id. at 70-77.
9 Id. at 53.
10 Id. at 25.
11 Id. at 53.
12 Id. at 27.
13 Id. at 54.
14 Id. at 7 and 25.
15 Id. at 25.
16 Id. at 26.
17 Id. at 9 and 26.
18 Id.
19 Id.
20 Id. at 27-28.
21 Id. at 20-21.
22 Id. at 3.
23 Id. at 46-49.
24 Id. at 99-111.
25 Id. at 16.
26 Id. at 7-8.
27 Id. at 8.
28 Id. at 9.
29 Id. at 11-13.
30 Id. at 46-47.
31 Id. at 68.
32 Id. at 70-77.
33 Id. at 47.
34 Id. at 88-92.
35 Id. at 89.
36 Id. at 27-28.
37 Id. at 16.
38 Id. at 54.
39 719 Phil. 680 (2013) [Per J. Reyes, En Banc].
40 April 27, 2015 Decision of the Court of Appeals, < http://services.ca.judiciary.gov.ph/casestatusinquiry-war> (last accessed on October 29, 2018).
41 277 Phil. 282 (1991) [Per J. Davide, Jr., En Banc].
42 Id. at 292-294.