THIRD DIVISION
G.R. No. 196084, February 15, 2017
NUEVA ECIJA II ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC., AREA I, MR. REYNALDO VILLANUEVA, PRESIDENT, BOARD OF DIRECTORS, AND MRS. EULALIA CASTRO, GENERAL MANAGER, Petitioners, v. ELMER B. MAPAGU, Respondent.
D E C I S I O N
JARDELEZA, J.:
This is a Petition for Review on Certiorari1 assailing the September 2, 20102 and March 3, 20113 Resolutions of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 114690. The CA dismissed outright the petition for certiorari filed by Nueva Ecija II Electric Cooperative, Inc., Area I (NEEC), Reynaldo Villanueva (Villanueva) and Eulalia Castro (Castro) (collectively, petitioners) on the ground that their Verification and Certification against Forum Shopping was unsigned.
"Section 7.2.18 Fraud or willful breach by the employee of the trust reposed in him/her by his/her supervisor or by the management."Mapagu was informed that the penalty for the charges is dismissal for the first offense and was directed to submit an answer within 72 hours from receipt of the Notice of Charges.10 In his answer, Mapagu denied under oath that his electric meter was under-read and under-billed by 1,918 kWhrs. He asserted that he has no meter reading from November 2002 to April 2005. He also argued that he availed of the amnesty offered and given by the NEEC Officer in Charge General Manager Jun Capulong in connection with employees' meter problems. Since the charges have been condoned, pardoned and disregarded, Mapagu maintains that he cannot be charged with unaccounted consumption.11
"Section 7.2.19 All other acts of dishonesty which cause or tend to cause prejudice to the REC."9chanroblesvirtuallawlibrary
Further, if respondents-appellees [herein petitioners] were able to condone, through Board Resolution No. 11-05, those with tampered meters, under read meters, stop/slow meters and illegal connection through payment of the unaccounted consumption, the dismissal of the complain[ant]-appellant all the more is shown to be tainted with bad faith. The condonation of some employees who have committed acts punishable with the (sic) dismissal and the dismissal of employees who have committed acts punishable with dismissal shows the bias of appellees.23chanroblesvirtuallawlibraryThe NLRC concluded that Mapagu is entitled to the twin relief of reinstatement and backwages. Considering, however, that the trust reposed on Mapagu can no longer be restored, and reinstatement is no longer feasible, the NLRC ordered the payment of separation pay reckoned from the time of Mapagu's employment up to the finality of the Decision. The dispositive portion of the NLRC Decision reads:ChanRoblesVirtualawlibrary
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the appeal is hereby granted. The 30 November 2007 Decision of the Labor Arbiter is reversed and set aside and a new one entered directing Nueva Ecija Electric Cooperative II to pay Elmer Mapagu separation pay in an amount equivalent to one (1) month pay reckoned from his employment up to the finality of this Decision and backwagcs reckoned from the time he was dismissed up to the finality of this Decision. However, from his backwages, the amount pertaining to his two years suspension must be deducted.Petitioners sought reconsideration but this was denied by the NLRC. Mapagu, meanwhile, filed a Motion for Clarification and Motion for Partial Reconsideration. The NLRC denied the latter motion but clarified that the separation pay referred to in the decretal portion of its Decision refers to one (1) month pay for every year of service reckoned from the time of Mapagu's employment up to the finality of its Decision.25 Petitioners elevated the case to the CA via a petition for certiorari under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court (Rules).
The claims for moral and exemplary damages are dismissed for want of merit.
SO ORDERED.24 (Emphasis in the original.)
Sec. 1. Filing of petition with Supreme Court. - A party desiring to appeal by certiorari from a judgment or final order or resolution of the Court of Appeals, the Sandiganbayan, the Regional Trial Court or other courts whenever authorized by law, may file with the Supreme Court a verified petition for review on certiorari. The petition shall raise only questions of law which must be distinctly set forth.Petitioners failed to comply with the foregoing provisions. They confuse petitions for review on certiorari under Rule 45 with petitions for certiorari under Rule 65. It is the latter which is required to be filed within a period of not later than 60 days from notice of the judgment, order or resolution. If a motion for new trial or reconsideration is filed, the 60-day period shall be counted from notice of the denial of the motion. Sections 1 and 4 of Rule 65 read:ChanRoblesVirtualawlibrary
Sec. 2. Time for filing; extension. - The petition shall be filed within fifteen (15) days from notice of the judgment or final order or resolution appealed from, or of the denial of the petitioner's motion for new trial or reconsideration tiled in due time after notice of the judgment. On motion duly filed and served, with full payment of the docket and other lawful fees and the deposit for costs before the expiration of the reglementary period, the Supreme Court may for justifiable reasons grant an extension of thirty (30) days only within which to file the petition. (Emphasis supplied.)
Sec. 1. Petition for certiorari. - When any tribunal, board or officer exercising judicial or quasi-judicial functions has acted without or in excess of its or his jurisdiction, or with grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction, and there is no appeal, or any plain, speedy, and adequate remedy in the ordinary course of law, a person aggrieved thereby may file a verified petition in the proper court, alleging the facts with certainty and praying that judgment be rendered annulling or modifying the proceedings of such tribunal, board or officer, and granting such incidental reliefs as law and justice may require.Petitioners' reliance on Republic and Bello are misplaced. In both cases, we are confronted with the issue of whether the petitions for certiorari before the CA were filed out of time. No other issue was raised in Republic and Bello. Further, it does not escape our attention that petitioners initially filed a motion for extension of time to file a petition for review where they recognized that they only have until April 1, 2011 (or 15 days from receipt of the denial of their Motion for Reconsideration) to file the petition. Clearly, petitioners were fully aware of the correct period for filing an appeal under Rule 45. Yet, in their actual petition, they maintain that they have 60 days to file the appeal. We cannot countenance petitioners' obvious legal maneuvering.
The petition shall be accompanied by a certified true copy of the judgment, order or resolution subject thereof, copies of all pleadings and documents relevant and pertinent thereto, and a sworn certification of non-forum shopping as provided in the third paragraph of section 3, Rule 46.x x x
Sec. 4. When and where petition filed. - The petition shall be filed not later than sixty (60) days from notice of the judgment, order or resolution. In case a motion for reconsideration or new trial is timely filed, whether such motion is required or not, the sixty (60) day period shall be counted from notice of the denial of said motion. x x x (Emphasis supplied.)
The failure of a party to perfect his appeal in the manner and within the period fixed by law renders the decision sought to be appealed final, with the result that no court can exercise appellate jurisdiction to review the decision. For it is more important that a case be settled than that it be settled right. It is only in exceptional cases when we have allowed a relaxation of the rules governing the periods of appeals. As stated in Bank of America, NT & SA v. Gerochi, Jr., typical of these cases are the following:ChanRoblesVirtualawlibraryNone of the foregoing justifications are, however, present here. Petitioners remain adamant that they properly observed the Rules when clearly they failed to do so. They did not even attempt to allude to any exceptional circumstance that would move us to use our equity jurisdiction to allow a liberal application of the Rules. Hence, we are constrained to declare that for petitioners' failure to file an appeal by certiorari within the reglementary period, the assailed Resolutions of the CA had already become final and executory.In Ramos vs. Bagasao, 96 SCRA 395, we excused the delay of four days in the filing of a notice of appeal because the questioned decision of the trial court was served upon appellant Ramos at a time when her counsel of record was already dead. Her new counsel could only file the appeal four days after the prescribed reglementary period was over. In Republic vs. Court of Appeals, 83 SCRA 453, we allowed the perfection of an appeal by the Republic despite the delay of six days to prevent a gross miscarriage of justice since the Republic stood to lose hundreds of hectares of land already titled in its name and had since then been devoted for educational purposes. In Olacao vs. National Labor Relations Commission, 177 SCRA 38, 41, we accepted a tardy appeal considering that the subject matter in issue had theretofore been judicially settled, with finality, in another case. The dismissal of the appeal would have had the effect of the appellant being ordered twice to make the same reparation to the appellee.49 (Emphasis supplied, citation omitted. Italics in the original.)
While every litigant must be given the amplest opportunity for the proper and just detem1ination of his cause, free from the constraints of technicalities, the failure to perfect an appeal within the reglementary period is not a mere technicality. It raises a jurisdictional problem, as it deprives the appellate court of its jurisdiction over the appeal. After a decision is declared final and executory, vested rights are acquired by the winning party. Just as a losing party has the right to appeal within the prescribed period, the winning party has the correlative right to enjoy the finality of the decision on the case.51chanroblesvirtuallawlibraryAll told, considering that we have lost jurisdiction to review the case in view of the finality of the CA Decision, we see no further reason to delve into the other issues raised by petitioners.
Endnotes:
* Designated as Fifth Member of the Third Division per Special Order No. 2417 dated January 4, 2017.
1 Under Rule 45 of the Rules of Court. Rollo, pp. 7-22.
2Id. at 210-211. Penned by Associate Justice Hakim S. Abdulwahid with Associate Justices Ricardo R. Rosario and Samuel H. Gaerlan, concurring.
3Id. at 219-220.
4Id. at 134.
5Id. at 97.
6Id. at 154.
7Id. at 188, 191-192.
8Id. at 97-98.
9Id. at 98.
10Id.
11Rollo, pp. 99-100.
12Id. at 137.
13Id. at 182.
14Id. at 183.
15Id. at 23-25, 137.
16Id. at 102-103.
17Id. at 109.
18Id. at 96-115.
19Id. at 114.
20Id. at 134-144.
21Id. at 140.
22Id. at 141-142.
23Id. at 142.
24Id. at 143-144.
25Id. at 208.
26Id. at 211.
27Id. at 219-220.
28Id. at 216-217.
29Id. at 218.
30Id. at 16-17.
31Id. at 17-18.
32Id. at 223-244.
33Id. at 223-224.
34Id. at 224-225.
35Id. at 226.
36Id. at 234.
37Id. at 229-231.
38Id. at 243-244.
39Id. at 253-261.
40Id. at 253-254.
41Id. at 246.
42Id. at 3-4.
43 G.R. No. 141530, March 18, 2003, 399 SCRA 277.
44 G.R. No. 146212, September 5, 2007, 532 SCRA 234.
45National Transmission Corporation v. Heirs of Teodulo Ebesa, G.R. No. 186102, February 24, 2016, 785 SCRA 1, 10, citing Julian v. Development Bank of the Philippines, G.R. No. 174193, December 7, 2011, 661 SCRA 745, 753.
46 See Salvacion v. Sandiganbayan (Fifth Division), G.R. No. 175006, November 27, 2008, 572 SCRA 163, 183.
47Boardwalk Business Ventures. Inc. v. Villareal, Jr., G.R. No. 181182, April 10, 2013, 695 SCRA 468, 481, citing Apex Mining Co., Inc. v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, G.R. No. 122472, October 20, 2005, 473 SCRA 490, 497-498.
48 G.R. No. 112337, January 25, 1996, 252 SCRA 387.
49Id. at 392-393.
50 G.R. No. 167398, August 8, 2011, 655 SCRA 176.
51Id. at 191-192, citing National Power Corporation v. Laohoo, G.R. No. 151973, July 23, 2009, 593 SCRA 564, 591.