Source: http://lawlibrary.chanrobles.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;view=article&amp;id=28752:g-r-no-71711-august-18,-1988-pnoc-exploration-corp-v-national-labor-relations-commission&amp;catid=1240&amp;Itemid=566
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 02:44:21+00:00

Document:
PNOC-EXPLORATION CORPORATION, Petitioner, v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION & OSCAR SALVADOR, Respondents.
Timbol and Associates for Private Respondent.
1.	ADMINISTRATIVE LAW; GOVERNMENT OWNED AND CONTROLLED CORPORATIONS; GOVERNED BY THE CIVIL SERVICE LAW AND BEYOND THE JURISDICTION OF THE MINISTRY OF LABOR. — As correctly pointed out by the Solicitor General, the issue of jurisdiction has been resolved in a string of cases starting with the National Housing Authority v. Juco, (134 SCRA 172) followed by Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System v. Hernandez (143 SCRA 602) and the comparatively recent case of Quimpo v. Sandiganbayan (GR No. 72553 Dec. 2, 1986) in which this Court squarely ruled that PNOC subsidiaries, whether or not originally created as government owned or controlled corporations are governed by the Civil Service Law.
2.	LABOR LAW; EMPLOYMENT FIXED FOR A SPECIFIC PROJECT; DEEMED TERMINATED UPON COMPLETION OF THE PROJECT. — The evidence on record shows that private respondent was not illegally dismissed. He was employed only for a specific project. His employment, therefore, legally ended upon completion of the project in May, 1979.
1.	Whether or not matters of employment affecting the PNOC-EC a government owned and controlled corporation are within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labor and Employment (now Department of Labor and Employment).
2.	Assuming the affirmative, whether or not the Ministry is justified in ordering the reinstatement of private respondent and payment of his full backwages without loss of seniority rights.
Required to comment, the Solicitor General prayed that the petition be given due course since the petitioner is governed by the Civil Service Law and that the termination of private respondent’s employment upon project completion is in accord with law.
The petition was thus given due course in the Resolution dated October 20, 1986.
Consequently, the PNOC-EC became one of the corporate subsidiaries of PNOC, tasked to generate or increase the availability of energy resources. It commenced operation by undertaking oil exploration and exploitation projects in various parts of the country.
On January 15, 1977, upon completion of the project, private respondent’s services were terminated.
On Oct. 1, 1978, private respondent was again hired as driver-mechanic, this time in petitioner’s Gravity Project in Samar, under the same terms and conditions as the first contract.
Hence, when the second project was completed in May 1979, petitioner’s employment was likewise terminated and was never renewed in the subsequent projects of the company.
Believing that he had become a regular employee and that his termination was illegal, private respondent filed a complaint against petitioner for illegal dismissal, backwages and allowances before the Labor Arbiter.
The decision of the Labor Arbiter in favor of private respondent which was affirmed by respondent NLRC is the subject of this petition which We find to be meritorious.
As correctly pointed out by the Solicitor General, the issue of jurisdiction has been resolved in a string of cases starting with the National Housing Authority v. Juco, (134 SCRA 172) followed by Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System v. Hernandez (143 SCRA 602) and the comparatively recent case of Quimpo v. Sandiganbayan (GR No. 72553 Dec. 2, 1986) in which this Court squarely ruled that PNOC subsidiaries, whether or not originally created as government owned or controlled corporations are governed by the Civil Service Law.
Be this as it may, the evidence on record shows that private respondent was not illegally dismissed. He was employed only for a specific project. His employment, therefore, legally ended upon completion of the project in May, 1979.

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