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Cooperative Development Authority had been complied
with. The Court of Appeals is directed to raffle this case
immediately upon receipt of this Decision and to proceed
accordingly with all deliberate dispatch. Thereafter, it is
directed to forthwith transmit its findings to this Court for
final adjudication. No pronouncement as to costs.
SO ORDERED.
Quisumbing (Chairperson), Carpio-Morales, Velasco,
Jr. and Brion, JJ., concur.
Case remanded to Court of Appeals.
Note.—Public service companies which do not exercise
prudence in the discharge of their duties shall be made to
bear the consequences of such oversight. (Manila Electric
Company vs. Macro Textile Mills Corporation, 374 SCRA
69 [2002])
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G.R. No. 177059. March 13, 2009.*
FE LA ROSA, OFELIA VELEZ, CELY DOMINGO, JONA
NATIVIDAD and EDGAR DE LEON, petitioners, vs.
AMBASSADOR HOTEL, respondent.
Remedial Law; Appeals; Recognized exceptions to the rule that
the Court is not a trier of facts and does not as a rule, re-examine
the evidence presented by the parties to a case.—While it is settled
that the Court is not a trier of facts and does not, as a rule, re-
examine the evidence presented by the parties to a case, there are
a number of recognized exceptions, such as when the judgment is
based on a misapprehension of facts; when the findings of facts of
lower courts
_______________
* SECOND DIVISION.
341
VOL. 581, MARCH 13, 2009 341
La Rosa vs. Ambassador Hotel
are conflicting; or when the findings of facts are premised on the
supposed absence of evidence but which are contradicted by the
evidence on record.
Labor Law; Termination of Employment; Constructive
Dismissal; Constructive dismissal occurs when there is cessation of
work because continued employment is rendered impossible,
unreasonable or unlikely, or, when there is a demotion in rank or
diminution in pay or both, or when a clear discrimination,
insensibility, or disdain by an employer becomes unbearable to the
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employee.—Case law holds that constructive dismissal occurs
when there is cessation of work because continued employment is
rendered impossible, unreasonable or unlikely; when there is a
demotion in rank or diminution in pay or both; or when a clear
discrimination, insensibility, or disdain by an employer becomes
unbearable to the employee. Respondent’s sudden, arbitrary and
unfounded adoption of the two-day work scheme which greatly
reduced petitioners’ salaries renders it liable for constructive
dismissal.
Same; Same; Abandonment; Abandonment as a just ground
for dismissal thus requires clear, willful, deliberate, and
unjustified refusal of the employee to resume employment—mere
absence or failure to report for work, even after notice to return, is
not tantamount to abandonment.—Abandonment is a matter of
intention and cannot lightly be inferred or legally presumed from
certain equivocal acts. For abandonment to exist, two requisites
must concur: first, the employee must have failed to report for
work or must have been absent without valid or justifiable reason;
and second, there must have been a clear intention on the part of
the employee to sever the employer-employee relationship as
manifested by some overt acts. The second element is the more
determinative factor. Abandonment as a just ground for
dismissal thus requires clear, willful, deliberate, and
unjustified refusal of the employee to resume employment.
Mere absence or failure to report for work, even after
notice to return, is not tantamount to abandonment.
Same; Same; Same; An employee who take steps to protest his
dismissal cannot by logic be said to have abandoned his work.—
Petitioners’ immediate filing of complaints for illegal suspension
and illegal dismissal after the implementation of the questioned
work
342
342 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED
La Rosa vs. Ambassador Hotel
scheme, which scheme was adopted soon after petitioners’
complaints against respondent for violation of labor standards
laws were found meritorious, negates respondent’s claim of
abandonment. An employee who takes steps to protest his
dismissal cannot by logic be said to have abandoned his work.
PETITION for review on certiorari of the decision and
resolution of the Court of Appeals.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.
Paterno D. Menzon for petitioner.
Ray Anthony F. Fajarito for private respondent.
CARPIO-MORALES, J.:
On April 17, 2002, employees of Ambassador Hotel
including herein petitioners filed before the National Labor
Relations Commission (NLRC) several complaints,
docketed as NLRC Case Nos. 04-02018-02, 30-04-02019-02,
08-06442-02 and 02-03643-02, for illegal dismissal, illegal
suspension, and illegal deductions against the hotel
(respondent) and its manager, Yolanda L. Chan. They
alleged that, following their filing of complaints with the
Department of Labor and Employment-NCR which
prompted an inspection of the hotel’s premises by a labor
inspector, respondent was found to have been violating
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labor standards laws and was thus ordered to pay them
some money claims. This purportedly angered respondent’s
management which retaliated by suspending and/or
constructively dismissing them by drastically reducing
their work days through the adoption of a work
reduction/rotation scheme. Criminal cases for estafa were
likewise allegedly filed against several of the employees
involved, some of which cases were eventually dismissed by
the prosecutor’s office for lack of merit.
343
VOL. 581, MARCH 13, 2009 343
La Rosa vs. Ambassador Hotel
The complaints against respondent subject of the
present petition were consolidated. By Decision1 of
September 30, 2003, the labor arbiter found respondent
and its manager Yolanda L. Chan guilty of illegal dismissal
and ordered them to pay petitioners’ separation pay at 1/2
month for every year of service with full backwages, and
10% of the monetary award as attorney’s fees.
Respondent appealed to the NLRC which, by Decision2
dated September 8, 2005, affirmed the labor arbiter’s
ruling with the modification that five of the complainants,
namely Diana P. Castillo, Lorena L. Hildao, Gilbert
Ongjoco, Salvador So and Ma. Pilar A. Barcenilla, were
directed to report back to work, and respondent was
directed to accept them without having to pay them
backwages. With respect to petitioners, the NLRC held
that Edgar de Leon was “actually dismissed but illegally”
on November 7, 2001 and that with respect to the four
other petitioners, they were constructively dismissed on
April 15, 2002 by virtue of respondent’s memorandum of
even date.
Thus, the NLRC disposed:
“WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Decision appealed
from is hereby MODIFIED. Diana P. Castillo, Lorena I. Hildao,
Gilbet Ongjoco, Salvador So and Ma. Pilar A. Barcenilla were not
dismissed. They are ordered to report back to work and
respondents to accept them back, but without backwages.
[Herein petitioners] Fe La Rosa, Ofelia Velez, Cely Domingo
and Jona Natividad were constructively dismissed, and Edgar de
Leon actually dismissed but illegally. Accordingly, the awards
made in their favor are AFFIRMED.
SO ORDERED.”3 (Underscoring supplied)”
_______________
1 Records, pp. 96-100. Penned by Labor Arbiter Ariel Cadiente Santos.
2 Id., at pp. 269-279. Penned by Commissioner Angelita A. Gacutan
and concurred in by Presiding Commissioner Raul T. Aquino and
Commissioner Victoriano R. Calaycay.
3 CA Rollo, p. 118.
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344 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED
La Rosa vs. Ambassador Hotel
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On respondent’s motion for reconsideration, the NLRC,
by Decision4 dated January 27, 2006, modified its decision
by, among other things, absolving respondent’s manager
Yolanda L. Chan of any personal liability.
Respondent appealed and prayed for the issuance of an
injunctive writ before the Court of Appeals, faulting the
NLRC to have committed grave abuse of discretion 1) in
finding that petitioners were illegally dismissed, 2) in
awarding backwages and separation pay, and 3) in
requiring it to pay them the monetary equivalent of their
service incentive leaves. Respondent maintained that its
act of reducing the number of work days per week was
valid, as it was done to save its business from bankruptcy
due to economic reverses.
The appellate court granted respondent’s prayer for a
temporary restraining order (TRO) and subsequently for a
writ of preliminary injunction.
By Decision5 dated December 12, 2006, the appellate
court reversed the NLRC decision and dismissed
petitioners’ complaints, holding that there was no
constructive dismissal because petitioners “simply
disappeared from work” upon learning of the work
reduction/rotation scheme; and that in their position paper
submitted before the NLRC, petitioners only prayed for
separation pay and not for reinstatement, hence, following
settled jurisprudence, the latter relief has been foreclosed.
The appellate court went on to hold that respondent’s
adoption of the work reduction/rotation scheme, as well as
its reassignment of petitioners, was a valid exercise of
management prerogative, absent any showing that the
same was done out of vengeance. It further held
inapplicable the rule
_______________
4 Records, pp. 300-303.
5 CA Rollo, pp. 254- 261. Penned by then Associate Justice, now
Presiding Justice Conrado M. Vasquez, Jr., and concurred in by Associate
Justices Rebecca de Guia-Salvador and Vicente S.E. Veloso.
345
VOL. 581, MARCH 13, 2009 345
La Rosa vs. Ambassador Hotel
that the institution of a complaint for illegal dismissal is
inconsistent with abandonment, because petitioners failed
to pray for reinstatement as they instead prayed for
separation pay.
Petitioners’ motion for reconsideration having been
denied by the appellate court by Resolution6 dated March
7, 2007, they instituted the present petition for review on
certiorari.
Petitioners deny having abandoned their jobs. And they
take exception to the appellate court’s finding that they did
not pray for reinstatement, they inviting attention to
paragraph 14, page 5 of their verified position paper
reading: “x x x Hence they are entitled to reinstatement
with full backwages, or in the alternative to full separation
pay of one month per year of service,” as well as to their
prayer in the pro-forma complaints filed before the labor
arbiter asking for the same relief.
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Petitioners question as bereft of specific proof the
appellate court’s ruling that the work reduction/rotation
scheme adopted by respondent was a valid exercise of
management prerogative.
Finally, petitioners question the issuance by the
appellate court of a TRO, and subsequently of a writ of
preliminary injunction conditioned on respondent’s posting
of a bond which was lower than the judgment award,
hence, prejudicial to them.
The petition is impressed with merit.
While it is settled that the Court is not a trier of facts
and does not, as a rule, re-examine the evidence presented
by the parties to a case, there are a number of recognized
exceptions, such as when the judgment is based on a
misapprehension of facts; when the findings of facts of
lower courts are conflicting; or when the findings of facts
are premised on the sup-
_______________
6 Id., at p. 351. Penned by then Associate Justice (now Presiding
Justice) Conrado M. Vasquez, Jr. and concurred in by Associate Justices
Rebecca de Guia-Salvador and Vicente S.E. Veloso.
346
346 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED
La Rosa vs. Ambassador Hotel
posed absence of evidence but which are contradicted by
the evidence on record.7
The appellate court predicated its reversal of the NLRC
decision that petitioners were illegally dismissed on
petitioners’ supposed abandonment of their jobs, and
justified the work rotation/reduction scheme adopted by
respondent as a valid exercise of management prerogative
in light of respondent’s business losses.
The records fail, however, to show any documentary
proof that the work reduction scheme was adopted due to
respondent’s business reverses. Respondent’s
memorandum8 dated April 5, 2000 (sic, should be 2002)
informing petitioners of the adoption of a two-day work
scheme effective April 5, 2002 made no mention why such
scheme was being adopted. Neither do the records show
any documentary proof that respondent suffered financial
losses to justify its adoption of the said scheme to stabilize
its operations.
What is undisputed, as found by both the labor arbiter
and the NLRC and admitted by respondent itself, is that
the complaints for violation of labor standards laws were
filed by petitioners against respondent at the DOLE-NCR,
some of which complaints were partially settled; and that
almost immediately after the partial settlement of the said
complaints, the work reduction/rotation scheme was
implemented.
Case law holds that constructive dismissal occurs when
there is cessation of work because continued employment is
rendered impossible, unreasonable or unlikely; when there
is a demotion in rank or diminution in pay or both; or when
a clear discrimination, insensibility, or disdain by an
employer
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_______________
7 Insular Life v. Court of Appeals, G.R. No. 126850, April 28, 2004, 428
SCRA 79, 85-86.
8 Records, p. 48.
347
VOL. 581, MARCH 13, 2009 347
La Rosa vs. Ambassador Hotel
becomes unbearable to the employee.9 Respondent’s
sudden, arbitrary and unfounded adoption of the two-day
work scheme which greatly reduced petitioners’ salaries
renders it liable for constructive dismissal.
Respecting the appellate court’s ruling that petitioners
“simply disappeared” from their work, hence, they are
guilty of abandonment, the same does not lie.
“Absence must be accompanied by overt acts unerringly
pointing to the fact that the employee simply does not
want to work anymore. And the burden of proof to show
that there was unjustified refusal to go back to work rests
on the employer.
xxxx
Abandonment is a matter of intention and cannot lightly be
inferred or legally presumed from certain equivocal acts. For
abandonment to exist, two requisites must concur: first, the
employee must have failed to report for work or must have been
absent without valid or justifiable reason; and second, there must
have been a clear intention on the part of the employee to sever
the employer-employee relationship as manifested by some overt
acts. The second element is the more determinative factor.
Abandonment as a just ground for dismissal thus requires
clear, willful, deliberate, and unjustified refusal of the
employee to resume employment. Mere absence or failure
to report for work, even after notice to return, is not
tantamount to abandonment.”10 (Emphasis and italics
supplied)
Respondent, which has the onus of proving that petitioners
abandoned their work, failed to discharge the same,
however.
Upon the other hand, petitioners’ immediate filing of
complaints for illegal suspension and illegal dismissal after
the implementation of the questioned work scheme, which
_______________
9 Uniwide Sales Warehouse Club v. National Labor Relations
Commission, G.R. No. 154503, February 29, 2008, 547 SCRA 220.
10 Seven Star Textile Company v. Dy, G.R. No. 166846, January 24,
2007, 512 SCRA 486, 499.
348
348 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED
La Rosa vs. Ambassador Hotel
scheme was adopted soon after petitioners’ complaints
against respondent for violation of labor standards laws
were found meritorious, negates respondent’s claim of
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abandonment. An employee who takes steps to protest his
dismissal cannot by logic be said to have abandoned his
work.11
As for the appellate court’s ruling that petitioners are
not entitled to reinstatement because they did not pray for
it in their complaints, the same does not lie. In all the pro-
forma complaints12 filed by petitioners before the NLRC,
they prayed for reinstatement or, in the alternative, for the
award to them of separation pay. And they reiterated this
prayer in their Position Paper,13 specifically in paragraph
14 thereof, viz.:
“14. Due process was not followed in the constructive
dismissal of the complainants. Hence they are entitled to
reinstatement with full backwages or in the alternative to
full separation pay of one month per year of service.
(Emphasis and italics supplied)
Besides, under Article 27914 of the Labor Code and
based on settled jurisprudence, an employee dismissed
without just cause and without due process, like petitioners
herein, are entitled to reinstatement and backwages or
payment of separation pay.
_______________
11 Samarca v. Arc-Men Industries, Inc., G.R. No. 146118, October 8,
2003, 413 SCRA 162, 168.
12 Records, pp. 1-3, 11.
13 Id., at pp. 41-47.
14 Art. 279. Security of Tenure.—x x x
In cases of regular employment the employer shall not terminate the
services of an employee except for a just cause or when authorized by this
Title. An employee who is unjustly dismissed from work shall be entitled
to reinstatement without loss of seniority rights and other privileges and
to his full backwages, inclusive of allowances, and to his other benefits or
their monetary equivalent computed from the time his compensation was
withheld from him up to the time of his actual reinstatement.
349
VOL. 581, MARCH 13, 2009 349
La Rosa vs. Ambassador Hotel
In fine, the Court finds that petitioner Edgar de Leon
was illegally dismissed on November 7, 2001, and the rest
of the petitioners were illegally dismissed on April 15, 2002
from which dates the payment of backwages (cum
separation pay), at the above-stated rate determined by the
Labor Arbiter and affirmed by the NLRC, are to be
reckoned with. This leaves it unnecessary to still pass on
the issue of the propriety of the appellate court’s issuance
of a TRO and injunctive writ.
WHEREFORE, the petition is GRANTED.
The Court of Appeals Decision dated December 12, 2006
and Resolution dated March 7, 2007 are REVERSED and
SET ASIDE. The National Labor Relations Commission
Decision dated September 8, 2005 and Resolution dated
January 21, 2006 are REINSTATED.
SO ORDERED.
Quisumbing (Actg. C.J., Chairperson), Tinga, Velasco,
Jr. and Brion, JJ., concur.
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Petition granted, judgment and resolution reversed and
set aside.
Note.—A charge of abandonment is totally inconsistent
with the filing of a complaint for constructive dismissal.
(Unicorn Safety Glass, Inc. vs. Basarte, 444 SCRA 287
[2004])
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