371 Phil. 30
PURISIMA, J.:
"Art. 245. Ineligibility of managerial employees to join any labor organization; right of supervisory employees.- Managerial employees are not eligible to join, assist or form any labor organization. Supervisory employees shall not be eligible for membership in a labor organization of the rank-and-file employees but may join, assist or form separate labor organizations of their own."In its Comment dated March 19, 1991, the Federation argued that:
"The pertinent portion of Article 245 of the Labor Code states that. "Supervisory employees shall not be eligible for membership in a labor organization of the rank and file employees but may join, assist or form separate labor organization of their own."On April 8, 1991, the Secretary of Labor and Employment, through the Office of the Solicitor General, sent in a Comment, alleging inter alia, that:
This provision of law does not prohibit a local union composed of supervisory employees from being affiliated to a federation which has local unions with rank-and-file members as affiliates.xxx xxx xxx xxx the Petition to Cancel, Revoke or Set Aside the Charter Certificate of the private respondent is anchored on the alleged ground that certain managerial employees are included as members thereof. The grounds for the cancellation of the registration certificate of a labor organization are provided in Section 7 of Rule II, Book V of the Omnibus Rules Implementing the Labor Code, and the inclusion of managerial employees is not one of the grounds. xxx (in this case, the private respondent herein) remains to be a legitimate labor organization."[1]
"xxx under Article 259 of the New Labor Code, only orders of the Med-Arbiter can be appealed through the Secretary of Labor and only on the ground that the rules and regulations for the conduct of the certification election have been violated. The Order of the Representation Officer is "interlocutory" and not appealable. xxxPEPSI, in its Reply dated May 7, 1991, asserted:
xxx until and unless there is a final order cancelling its certificate of registration or charter certificate, a labor organization remains to be a legitimate labor organization entitled to exercise all the rights and duties accorded to it by the Labor Code including the right to be certified as a bargaining representative. xxx
xxx Public respondent cannot be deemed to have committed grave abuse of discretion with respect to an issue that was never presented before it for resolution. xxx
Article 245 of the New Labor Code does not preclude the supervisor's union and the rank-and-file union from being affiliated with the same federation.xxx xxx xxx
A federation of local union is not the labor organization referred to in Article 245 but only becomes entitled to all the rights enjoyed by the labor organization (at the company level) when it has complied with the registration requirements found in Articles 234 and 237. Hence, what is prohibited by Article 245 is membership of supervisory employees in a labor union (at the company level) of the rank and file. xxx
xxx In other words, the affiliation of the supervisory employee's union with the same federation with which the rank and file employees union is affiliated did not make the supervisory employees members of the rank and file employee's union and vice versa."[2] xxx
"It is our humble contention that a final determination of the Petition to Set-Aside, Cancel, Revoke Charter Union Affiliation should first be disposed of before granting the Petition for the Conduct of Certification Election. To allow the conduct of the certification election to proceed would make any decision arrived at by the Bureau of Labor Relations useless inasmuch as the same would necessarily be rendered moot and academic."[3]On June 7, 1991, petitioner again filed a Supplemental Reply stressing:
"It is likewise stressed that officials of both the PCLU and PEUP are top ranking officers of UOEF, the federation of supervisors' union, to wit:
On August 6, 1991, the Secretary of Labor and Employment filed a Rejoinder, claiming thus:
POSITION IN RANK AND FILE UNION POSITION IN FEDERATION1. Rogelio de la Cruz PCLU -President General Vice President 2. Felix Gatela PEUP - President General Treasurer 3. Carlito Epino PCLU Board Member Educational Research Director xxx xxx xxx
The respondent supervisory union could do indirectly what it could not do directly as the simple expedient of affiliating with UOEF would negate the manifest intent and letter of the law that supervisory employees can only "join, assist or form separate labor organizations of their own" and cannot "be eligible for membership in a labor organization of the rank and file employees."[4]
"xxx an employer has no legal standing to question the validity of a certification election.On November 8, 1991, the Union also filed a Rejoinder.
xxx For this reason, the Supreme Court has consistently held that, as a rule, a certification election is the sole and exclusive concern of the employees and that the employer is definitely an intruder or a mere bystander (Consolidated Farms vs. Noriel, L-47752, July 31, 1978, 84 SCRA 469; Filipino Metals Corporation vs. Ople, L- 43861, September 4, 1981, 107 SCRA 211; Trade Unions of the Philippines and Allied Services (TUPAS) vs. Trajano No. L-61153, January 17, 1983, 120 SCRA 64].xxx xxx xxx
In Adamson & Adamson, Inc. vs. CIR No. L-35120, January 31, 1984, 127 SCRA 268, the Supreme Court (then dealing with the interpretation of Section 3 of the Industrial Peace Act, from which Section 245 of the Labor Code was derived) grappled with the issue in the case at bar. It held that,`There is nothing in the provisions of the Industrial Peace Act which provides that a duly registered local union affiliating with a national union or federation loses its legal personality, or its independence.'xxx xxx xxx
However, there is absolutely nothing in the Labor Code that prohibits a federation from representing or exercising influence over its affiliates. On the contrary, this is precisely the reason why federations are formed and are allowed by law to exist."[5]
"WHEREFORE, premises considered, an order is hereby issued:The supervisory employees of the Union are:
- Dismissing MED ARB ROX CASE NO. R1000-919104-RU-012 and R1000-9102-RU-008 for lack of merit; and
- Ordering the conduct of a Certification Election to be participated by and among the supervisory workers of the respondent company, Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc. at its plant at Tin-ao, Cagayan de Oro City, including all the satellite warehouse within the territorial coverage and control of the Cagayan de Oro Pepsi-Cola Plant. The choices are as follows:
The parties are directed to attend a pre-election conference on June 10, 1991, 2:30 p.m. at the Regional Office to determine the qualification of the voters and to thresh out the mechanics of the election. Respondent/employer is directed to submit five (5) copies of the names of the rank and file workers taken from the payroll on October 1-31, 1991, alphabetically arranged (sic) indicating their names and positions and dates of employment and to bring the aforementioned payroll during the pre-election conference for verification purposes."[6] xxx
- Cagayan de Oro Pepsi-Cola Supervisors Union (U.O.E.P.)
- No union
On June 6, 1991, PEPSI appealed the said Order to the Secretary of Labor and Employment on the ground of grave abuse of discretion, docketed as Case No. OS-A-232-91.
POSITION 1. Felipe Valdehueza Route Manager 2. Gerberto Vertudazo C & C Manager 3. Paul Mendoza Sales Service Department Manager 4. Gilberto Emano, Jr. Route Manager 5. Jaime Huliganga
Chief Checker 6. Elias Edgama, Sr. Accounting Manager 7. Romanico Ramos Route Manager 8. Raul Yacapin Route Manager 9. Jovenal Albaque Route Manager 10. Fulvio Narciso Route Manager 11. Apolinario Opiniano Route Manager 12. Alfredo Panas Route Manager 13. Simplicio Nelie
Route Manager 14. Arthur Rodriguez Route Manager 15. Marco Ilano Warehouse Operations Manager and 16. Deodoro Ramos Maintenance Manager
"WHEREFORE, the Order of the Med-Arbiter dated 23 May 1991 is hereby modified to the effect that MED ARB ROX Case No. R1000-9104-RU-012 and R1000-9102-RU-008 are hereby referred to the Office of the Regional Director which has jurisdiction over these cases. The call for certification election among the supervisory workers of the Pepsi-Cola Products Philippines, Inc. at its plant at Tin-ao, Cagayan de Oro City is hereby sustained."[7]On October 19, 1991, PEPSI presented a motion for reconsideration of the aforesaid Order but the same was denied on December 12, 1991.
"PUBLIC RESPONDENT COMMITTED GRAVE ABUSE OF DISCRETION IN RULING THAT PRIVATE RESPONDENT'S OFFICERS AND MEMBERS ARE NOT MANAGERIAL EMPLOYEES;The petitions must fail for want of merit.
PRIVATE RESPONDENT IS PROHIBITED FROM AFFILIATING ITSELF WITH A FEDERATION ALREADY AFFILIATED WITH THE RANK AND FILE UNION;
PUBLIC RESPONDENT COMMITTED GRAVE OF (SIC) ABUSE OF DISCRETION IN RULING THAT THE INSTITUTION OF A PETITION FOR CANCELLATION OF UNION REGISTRATION DOES NOT CONSTITUTE A PREJUDICIAL QUESTION TO A PETITION CERTIFICATION ELECTION."[8]
"BE IT RESOLVED, as it is hereby RESOLVED, that this UNION WITHDRAW, as it hereby WITHDRAWS its affiliation from the Union de Obreros Estivadores de Filipinas, and at the same time, give our thanks to the said federation for its help and guidance rendered to this Union in the past."[9]The issue in G.R. No. 96663, whether or not the supervisors union can be affiliated with a Federation with two (2) rank and file unions directly under the supervision of the former, has thus become moot and academic in view of the Union's withdrawal from the federation.
"It is unnecessary, however to indulge in academic discussion of a moot question. xxxHowever, in the case of University of San Agustin, Inc., et al. vs. Court of Appeals, et al., the court resolved the case, ruling that "even if a case were moot and academic, a statement of the governing principle is appropriate in the resolution of dismissal for the guidance not only of the parties but of others similarly situated. xxx"[10]
xxx The action would have been dismissed at any time on a showing of the facts as they were . The question left for the court was a moot one. Its Resolution would have been useless. Its judgment would have been impossible of execution xxx."
Thus, if the intent of the law is to avoid a situation where supervisors would merge with the rank-and-file or where the supervisors' labor organization would represent conflicting interests, then a local supervisors' union should not be allowed to affiliate with the national federation of union of rank-and-file employees where that federation actively participates in union activity in the company.Anent the issue of whether or not the Petition to cancel/revoke registration is a prejudicial question to the petition for certification election, the following ruling in the case of Association of the Court of Appeals Employees (ACAE) vs. Hon. Pura Ferrer-Calleja, in her capacity as Director, Bureau of Labor Relations et. Al., 203 ACRA 597, 598, [1991], is in point, to wit:xxx xxx xxx
The prohibition against a supervisors' union joining a local union of rank and file is replete with jurisprudence. The Court emphasizes that the limitation is not confined to a case of supervisors' wanting to join a rank-and-file union. The prohibition extends to a supervisors' local union applying for membership in a national federation the members of which include local unions of rank and file employees. The intent of the law is clear especially where, as in this case at bar, the supervisors will be co-mingling with those employees whom they directly supervise in their own bargaining unit."
xxx It is a well-settled rule that "a certification proceedings is not a litigation in the sense that the term is ordinarily understood, but an investigation of a non-adversarial and fact finding character." (Associated Labor Unions (ALU) v. Ferrer-Calleja, 179 SCRA 127 [1989]; Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corporation v. NLRC, 183 SCRA 451 [1990]. Thus, the technical rules of evidence do not apply if the decision to grant it proceeds from an examination of the sufficiency of the petition as well as a careful look into the arguments contained in the position papers and other documents.
"At any rate, the Court applies the established rule correctly followed by the public respondent that an order to hold a certification election is proper despite the pendency of the petition for cancellation of the registration certificate of the respondent union. The rationale for this is that at the time the respondent union filed its petition, it still had the legal personality to perform such act absent an order directing the cancellation.
"xxx A confidential employee is one entrusted with confidence on delicate matters, or with the custody, handling, or care and protection of the employer's property. While Art. 245 of the Labor Code singles out managerial employee as ineligible to join, assist or form any labor organization, under the doctrine of necessary implication, confidential employees are similarly disqualified. This doctrine states that what is implied in a statute is as much a part thereof as that which is expressed, as elucidated in several case; the latest of which is Chua v. Civil Service Commission where we said:The Court finds merit in the submission of the OSG that Route Managers, Chief Checkers and Warehouse Operations Managers are supervisors while Credit & Collection Managers and Accounting Managers are highly confidential employees. Designation should be reconciled with the actual job description of subject employees. A careful scrutiny of their job description indicates that they don't lay down company policies. Theirs is not a final determination of the company policies since they have to report to their respective superior. The mere fact that an employee is designated manager does not necessarily make him one. Otherwise, there would be an absurd situation where one can be given the title just to be deprived of the right to be a member of a union. In the case of National Steel Corporation v. Laguesma, G. R. No. 103743, January 29,1996, it was stressed that:No statute can be enacted that can provide all the details involved in its application. There is always an omission that may not meet a particular situation. What is thought, at the time of the enactment, to be an all embracing legislation maybe inadequate to provide for the unfolding events of the future. So-called gaps in the law develop as the law is enforced. One of the rules of statutory construction used to fill in the gap is the doctrine of necessary implication xxx, Every statute is understood, by implication, to contain all such provisions as may be necessary to effectuate its object and purpose, or to make effective rights, powers, privileges or jurisdiction which it grants, including all such collateral and subsidiary consequences as may be fairly and logically inferred from its terms. Ex necessitate legis xxxIn applying the doctrine of necessary implication, we took into consideration the rationale behind the disqualification of managerial employees expressed in Bulletin Publishing Corporation v. Sanchez, thus "xxx if these managerial employees would belong to or be affiliated with a Union, the latter might not be assured of their loyalty to the Union in view of evident conflict of interests. The Union can also become company - dominated with the presence of managerial employees in Union membership." Stated differently, in the collective bargaining process, managerial employees are supposed to be on the side of the employer, to act as its representatives, and to see to it that its interest are well protected. The employer is not assured of such protection if these employees themselves are union members. Collective bargaining in such a situation can become one-sided. It is the same reason that impelled this Court to consider the position of confidential employees as included in the disqualification found in Art. 245 as if the disqualification of confidential employees were written in the provision. If confidential employees could unionize in order to bargain for advantages for themselves, then they could be governed by their own motives rather than the interest of the employers. Moreover, unionization of confidential employees for the purpose of collective bargaining would mean the extension of the law to persons or individuals who are supposed to act "in the interest of" the employers. It is not farfetched that in the course of collective bargaining, they might jeopardize that interest which they are duty bound to protect. Along the same line of reasoning we held in Golden Farms, Inc. vs. Ferrer-Calleja reiterated in Philips Industrial Development, Inc., NLRC, that "confidential employees such as accounting personnel, radio and telegraph operators who, having access to confidential information, may become the source of undue advantage. Said employee(s) may act as spy or spies of either party to a collective bargaining agreement."
"What is essential is the nature of the employee's function and not the nomenclature or title given to the job which determines whether the employee has rank and file or managerial status, or whether he is a supervisory employee."WHEREFORE, the petitions under consideration are DISMISSED but subject Decision, dated October 4, 1991, of the Secretary of Labor and Employment is MODIFIED in that Credit and Collection Managers and Accounting Managers are highly confidential employees not eligible for membership in a supervisors' union. No pronouncement as to costs.