Source: http://lawlibrary.chanrobles.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=82006:g-r-no-192394,-july-03,-2013-roy-d-pasos,-petitioner,-v-philippine-national-construction-corporation,-respondent&catid=1572&Itemid=566
Timestamp: 2019-04-23 04:28:43+00:00

Document:
G.R. No. 192394, July 03, 2013 - ROY D. PASOS, Petitioner, v. PHILIPPINE NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION, Respondent.
ROY D. PASOS, Petitioner, v. PHILIPPINE NATIONAL CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION, Respondent.
Before us is a petition for review on certiorari under Rule 45 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended, assailing the March 26, 2010 Decision1 and May 26, 2010 Resolution2 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 107805. The appellate court had affirmed the Decision3 of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) dismissing the illegal dismissal complaint filed by petitioner Roy D. Pasos against respondent Philippine National Construction Corporation (PNCC).
On February 23, 1999, petitioner was again hired by PNCC as “Accounting Clerk” and was assigned to the “SM-Project” based on the “Appointment for Project Employment” dated February 18, 1999.9 It did not specify the date when his employment will end but it was stated therein that it will be “co-terminus with the completion of the project.” Said employment supposedly ended on August 19, 1999 per “Personnel Action Form – Project Employment” dated August 18, 1999,10 where it was stated, “[t]ermination of [petitioner’s] project employment due to completion of assigned phase/stage of work or project effective at the close of office hour[s] on 19 August 1999.” However, it appears that said employment was extended per “Appointment for Project employment” dated August 20, 199911 as petitioner was again appointed as “Accounting Clerk” for “SM Project (Package II).” It did not state a specific date up to when his extended employment will be, but it provided that it will be “co-terminus with the x x x project.” In “Personnel Action Form – Project Employment” dated October 17, 2000,12 it appears that such extension would eventually end on October 19, 2000.
Despite the termination of his employment on October 19, 2000, petitioner claims that his superior instructed him to report for work the following day, intimating to him that he will again be employed for the succeeding SM projects. For purposes of reemployment, he then underwent a medical examination which allegedly revealed that he had pneumonitis. Petitioner was advised by PNCC’s physician, Dr. Arthur C. Obena, to take a 14-day sick leave.
On November 27, 2000, after serving his sick leave, petitioner claims that he was again referred for medical examination where it was revealed that he contracted Koch’s disease. He was then required to take a 60-day leave of absence.13 The following day, he submitted his application for sick leave but PNCC’s Project Personnel Officer, Mr. R.S. Sanchez, told him that he was not entitled to sick leave because he was not a regular employee.
Petitioner still served a 60-day sick leave and underwent another medical examination on February 16, 2001. He was then given a clean bill of health and was given a medical clearance by Dr. Obena that he was fit to work.
Petitioner claims that after he presented his medical clearance to the Project Personnel Officer on even date, he was informed that his services were already terminated on October 19, 2000 and he was already replaced due to expiration of his contract. This prompted petitioner on February 18, 2003 to file a complaint14 for illegal dismissal against PNCC with a prayer for reinstatement and back wages. He argued that he is deemed a regular employee of PNCC due to his prolonged employment as a project employee as well as the failure on the part of PNCC to report his termination every time a project is completed. He further contended that his termination without the benefit of an administrative investigation was tantamount to an illegal dismissal.
PNCC countered that petitioner was hired as a project employee in several projects with specific dates of engagement and termination and had full knowledge and consent that his appointment was only for the duration of each project. It further contended that it had sufficiently complied with the reportorial requirements to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). It submitted photocopies of three Establishment Termination Reports it purportedly filed with the DOLE. They were for: (1) the “PCSO-Q.I. Project” for February 1999;15 (2) “SM Project” for August 1999;16 and (3) “SM Project” for October 2000,17 all of which included petitioner as among the affected employees. The submission of termination reports by PNCC was however disputed by petitioner based on the verifications18 issued by the DOLE NCR office that he was not among the affected employees listed in the reports filed by PNCC in August 1998, February 1999, August 1999 and October 2000.
Feb. 18, 2000 – March 28, 2006 = 73.33 mos.
The reinstatement could not as well be ordered due to the strained relations between the parties, that in lieu thereof, separation pay is ordered paid to complainant in the amount of P37,662.00 [P6,277.00 x 6].
The Labor Arbiter ruled that petitioner attained regular employment status with the repeated hiring and rehiring of his services more so when the services he was made to render were usual and necessary to PNCC’s business. The Labor Arbiter likewise found that from the time petitioner was hired in 1996 until he was terminated, he was hired and rehired by PNCC and made to work not only in the project he had signed to work on but on other projects as well, indicating that he is in fact a regular employee. He also noted petitioner’s subsequent contracts did not anymore indicate the date of completion of the contract and the fact that his first contract was extended way beyond the supposed completion date. According to the Labor Arbiter, these circumstances indicate that the employment is no longer a project employment but has graduated into a regular one. Having attained regular status, the Labor Arbiter ruled that petitioner should have been accorded his right to security of tenure.
Both PNCC and petitioner appealed the Labor Arbiter’s decision. PNCC insisted that petitioner was just a project employee and his termination was brought about by the completion of the contract and therefore he was not illegally dismissed. Petitioner, on the other hand, argued that his reinstatement should have been ordered by the Labor Arbiter since there was no proof that there were strained relations between the parties. He also questioned the deduction of six months pay from the back wages awarded to him and the failure of the Labor Arbiter to award him damages and attorney’s fees. Petitioner likewise moved to dismiss PNCC’s appeal contending that the supersedeas bond in the amount of P422,630.41 filed by the latter was insufficient considering that the Labor Arbiter’s monetary award is P460,292.41. He also argued that the person who verified the appeal, Felix M. Erece, Jr., Personnel Services Department Head of PNCC, has no authority to file the same for and in behalf of PNCC.
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the appeal of respondent is GRANTED and the Decision dated 28 March 2006 is REVERSED and SET ASIDE.
A new Decision is hereby issued ordering respondent Philippine National Construction Corporation to pay completion bonus to complainant Roy Domingo Pasos in the amount of P25,000.
Complainant’s appeal is DISMISSED for lack of merit.
As to the procedural issues raised by petitioner, the NLRC ruled that there was substantial compliance with the requirement of an appeal bond and that Mr. Erece, Jr., as head of the Personnel Services Department, is the proper person to represent PNCC. As to the substantive issues, the NLRC found that petitioner was employed in connection with certain construction projects and his employment was co-terminus with each project as evidenced by the Personnel Action Forms and the Termination Report submitted to the DOLE. It likewise noted the presence of the following project employment indicators in the instant case, namely, the duration of the project for which petitioner was engaged was determinable and expected completion was known to petitioner; the specific service that petitioner rendered in the projects was that of an accounting clerk and that was made clear to him and the service was connected with the projects; and PNCC submitted termination reports to the DOLE and petitioner’s name was included in the list of affected employees.
Petitioner elevated the case to the CA via a petition for certiorari but the appellate court dismissed the same for lack of merit.
SUSTAINED THAT THE AMOUNT OF THE BOND POSTED BY THE RESPONDENTS FOR PURPOSES OF APPEAL WAS SUFFICIENT NOTWITHSTANDING THAT THE SAME IS LESS THAN THE ADJUDGED AMOUNT.
SUSTAINED THAT FELIX M. ERECE, JR., HEAD OF RESPONDENT PNCC’S PERSONNEL SERVICE DEPARTMENT, IS DULY AUTHORIZED TO REPRESENT RESPONDENT IN THIS CASE NOTWITHSTANDING THE ABSENCE OF ANY BOARD RESOLUTION OR SECRETARY’S CERTIFICATE OF THE RESPONDENT STATING THAT INDEED HE WAS DULY AUTHORIZED TO INSTITUTE [THESE] PROCEEDINGS.
SUSTAINED THAT PETITIONER WAS A PROJECT EMPLOYEE DESPITE THE FACT THAT RESPONDENT PNCC HAD NOT SUBMITTED THE REQUISITE TERMINATION REPORTS IN ALL OF THE ALLEGED PROJECTS WHERE THE PETITIONER WAS ASSIGNED.
SUSTAINED THAT THE PETITIONER IS A PROJECT EMPLOYEE DESPITE THE CIRCUMSTANCE THAT THE ACTUAL WORK UNDERTAKEN BY THE PETITIONER WAS NOT LIMITED TO THE WORK DESCRIBED IN HIS ALLEGED APPOINTMENT AS A PROJECT EMPLOYEE.
FAILED TO FIND THAT AT SOME TIME, THE EMPLOYMENT OF THE PETITIONER WAS UNREASONABLY EXTENDED BEYOND THE DATE OF ITS COMPLETION AND AT OTHER TIMES THE SAME DID NOT BEAR A DATE OF COMPLETION OR THAT THE SAME WAS READILY DETERMINABLE AT THE TIME OF PETITIONER’S ENGAGEMENT THEREBY INDICATING THAT HE WAS NOT HIRED AS A PROJECT EMPLOYEE.
FAILED TO ORDER THE REINSTATEMENT OF THE PETITIONER BY FINDING THAT THERE WAS STRAINED RELATIONS BETWEEN THE PARTIES NOTWITHSTANDING THAT THE RESPONDENT NEVER EVEN ALLEGED NOR PROVED IN ITS PLEADINGS THE CIRCUMSTANCE OF STRAINED RELATIONS.
SUSTAINED THE FAILURE OF THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION TO RECTIFY THE ERROR COMMITTED BY LABOR ARBITER LIBO-ON IN DEDUCTING THE EQUIVALENT OF SIX MONTHS PAY OF BACKWAGES DESPITE THE MANDATE OF THE LABOR CODE THAT WHEN THERE IS A FINDING OF ILLEGAL DISMISSAL, THE PAYMENT OF FULL BACKWAGES FROM DATE OF DIMISSAL [UP TO] ACTUAL REINSTATEMENT SHOULD BE AWARDED.
Petitioner contends that PNCC’s appeal from the Labor Arbiter’s decision should not have been allowed since the appeal bond filed was insufficient. He likewise argues that the appellate court erred in heavily relying in the case of Cagayan Valley Drug Corporation v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue23 which enumerated the officials and employees who can sign the verification and certification without need of a board resolution. He contends that in said case, there was substantial compliance with the requirement since a board resolution was submitted albeit belatedly unlike in the instant case where no board resolution was ever submitted even belatedly.
As to the substantive issue, petitioner submits that the CA erroneously concluded that he was a project employee when there are indicators which point otherwise. He contends that even if he was just hired for the NAIA 2 Project from April 26, 1996 to July 25, 1996, he was made to work until August 4, 1998. He also avers the DOLE had certified that he was not among the employees listed in the termination reports submitted by PNCC which belies the photocopies of termination reports attached by PNCC to its pleadings listing petitioner as one of the affected employees. Petitioner points out that said termination reports attached to PNCC’s pleadings are mere photocopies and were not even certified by the DOLE-NCR as true copies of the originals on file with said office. Further, he argues that in violation of the requirement of Department Order No. 19 that the duration of the project employment is reasonably determinable, his contracts for the SM projects did not specify the date of completion of the project nor was the completion determinable at the time that petitioner was hired.
PNCC counters that documentary evidence would show that petitioner was clearly a project employee and remained as such until his last engagement. It argues that the repeated rehiring of petitioner as accounting clerk in different projects did not make him a regular employee. It also insists that it complied with the reportorial requirements and that it filed and reported the termination of petitioner upon every completion of project to which he was employed.
In sum, three main issues are presented before this Court for resolution: (1) Should an appeal be dismissed outright if the appeal bond filed is less than the adjudged amount? (2) Can the head of the personnel department sign the verification and certification on behalf of the corporation sans any board resolution or secretary’s certificate authorizing such officer to do the same? and (3) Is petitioner a regular employee and not a mere project employee and thus can only be dismissed for cause?
The perfection of an appeal within the reglementary period and in the manner prescribed by law is jurisdictional, and noncompliance with such legal requirement is fatal and effectively renders the judgment final and executory. As provided in Article 223 of the Labor Code, as amended, in case of a judgment involving a monetary award, an appeal by the employer may be perfected only upon the posting of a cash or surety bond issued by a reputable bonding company duly accredited by the Commission in the amount equivalent to the monetary award in the judgment appealed from.
In the instant case, the Labor Arbiter in his decision ordered PNCC to pay petitioner back wages amounting to P422,630.41 and separation pay of P37,662 or a total of P460,292.41. When PNCC filed an appeal bond amounting to P422,630.41 or at least 90% of the adjudged amount, there is no question that this is substantial compliance with the requirement that allows relaxation of the rules.
In Mactan-Cebu International Airport Authority v. CA, we recognized the authority of a general manager or acting general manager to sign the verification and certificate against forum shopping; in Pfizer v. Galan, we upheld the validity of a verification signed by an “employment specialist” who had not even presented any proof of her authority to represent the company; in Novelty Philippines, Inc. v. CA, we ruled that a personnel officer who signed the petition but did not attach the authority from the company is authorized to sign the verification and non-forum shopping certificate; and in Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company v. WMC Resources International Pty. Ltd. (Lepanto), we ruled that the Chairperson of the Board and President of the Company can sign the verification and certificate against non-forum shopping even without the submission of the board’s authorization.
In sum, we have held that the following officials or employees of the company can sign the verification and certification without need of a board resolution: (1) the Chairperson of the Board of Directors, (2) the President of a corporation, (3) the General Manager or Acting General Manager, (4) Personnel Officer, and (5) an Employment Specialist in a labor case.
While we agree with petitioner that in Cagayan Valley, the requisite board resolution was submitted though belatedly unlike in the instant case, this Court still recognizes the authority of Mr. Erece, Jr. to sign the verification and certification on behalf of PNCC sans a board resolution or secretary’s certificate as we have allowed in Pfizer, Inc. v. Galan,29 one of the cases cited in Cagayan Valley. In Pfizer, the Court ruled as valid the verification signed by an employment specialist as she was in a position to verify the truthfulness and correctness of the allegations in the petition30 despite the fact that no board resolution authorizing her was ever submitted by Pfizer, Inc. even belatedly. We believe that like the employment specialist in Pfizer, Mr. Erece, Jr. too, as head of the Personnel Services Department of PNCC, was in a position to assure that the allegations in the pleading have been prepared in good faith and are true and correct.
In the instant case, the appointments issued to petitioner indicated that he was hired for specific projects. This Court is convinced however that although he started as a project employee, he eventually became a regular employee of PNCC.
In the case at bar, petitioner worked continuously for more than two years after the supposed three-month duration of his project employment for the NAIA II Project. While his appointment for said project allowed such extension since it specifically provided that in case his “services are still needed beyond the validity of [the] contract, the Company shall extend [his] services,” there was no subsequent contract or appointment that specified a particular duration for the extension. His services were just extended indefinitely until “Personnel Action Form – Project Employment” dated July 7, 1998 was issued to him which provided that his employment will end a few weeks later or on August 4, 1998. While for first three months, petitioner can be considered a project employee of PNCC, his employment thereafter, when his services were extended without any specification of as to the duration, made him a regular employee of PNCC. And his status as a regular employee was not affected by the fact that he was assigned to several other projects and there were intervals in between said projects since he enjoys security of tenure.
Petitioner’s regular employment was terminated by PNCC due to contract expiration or project completion, which are both not among the just or authorized causes provided in the Labor Code, as amended, for dismissing a regular employee. Thus, petitioner was illegally dismissed.
Article 279 of the Labor Code, as amended, provides that an illegally dismissed employee is entitled to reinstatement, full back wages, inclusive of allowances, and to his other benefits or their monetary equivalent from the time his compensation was withheld from him up to the time of his actual reinstatement.
Obviously, the principle of “strained relations” cannot be applied indiscriminately. Otherwise, reinstatement can never be possible simply because some hostility is invariably engendered between the parties as a result of litigation. That is human nature.
As to the back wages due petitioner, there is likewise no basis in deducting therefrom back wages equivalent to six months “representing the maximum period of confinement [PNCC] can require him to undergo medical treatment.” Besides, petitioner was not dismissed on the ground of disease but expiration of term of project employment.
Regarding moral and exemplary damages, this Court rules that petitioner is not entitled to them. Worth reiterating is the rule that moral damages are recoverable where the dismissal of the employee was attended by bad faith or fraud or constituted an act oppressive to labor, or was done in a manner contrary to morals, good customs, or public policy. Likewise, exemplary damages may be awarded if the dismissal was effected in a wanton, oppressive or malevolent manner.40 Apart from his allegations, petitioner did not present any evidence to prove that his dismissal was attended with bad faith or was done oppressively.
3) respondent PNCC is DIRECTED to pay petitioner Pasos attorney’s fees equivalent to 10% of his total monetary award.
44 G.R. No. 97412, July 12, 1994, 234 SCRA 78, 95-97.

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