331 Phil. 124
PUNO, J.:
Petitioner solely contends that:The jurisdiction of labor arbiters and respondent Commission is defined in Article 217 of the labor Code which reads:
"THE PUBLIC RESPONDENT SERIOUSLY ERRED IN REFUSING TO DISMISS THE ACTION IN NLRC CASE NO. V-0027-90 BEFORE IT (AND/OR RAB VI CASE NO. 06-06-10249-89 BEFORE ITS ARBITRATION BRANCH NO. VI) AND THEREBY CONSEQUENTLY DIRECT/ORDER DESISTANCE FROM FURTHER PROCEEDINGS THEREON NOTWITHSTANDING THE FACT THAT NEITHER THE SAID RESPONDENT NOR THE LABOR ARBITER OF ITS ARBITRATION BRANCH POSSESSES JURISDICTION OVER THE SUBJECT MATTER OF THE SAID SUIT IN LIGHT OF THE ADMITTED ABSENCE OF ANY EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIP AS BETWEEN PETITIONER AND PRIVATE RESPONDENT AND/OR THE "FARMWORKERS" IT SEEKS TO REPRESENT."[6]
"Art. 217. Jurisdiction of Labor Arbiters and the Commission. -- Except as otherwise provided under this Code the Labor Arbiters shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and decide within thirty (30) calendar days after submission of the case by the parties for decision without extension, even in the absence of stenographic notes, the following cases involving all workers, whether agricultural or non-agricultural:The labor arbiter and National Labor Relations Commission have original and exclusive jurisdiction over all disputes involving workers, whether agricultural or non-agricultural, if the dispute falls under paragraphs 1 to 6 of Article 217. Not all claims for money and benefits are included in this jurisdiction. Article 217 assumes that the cases or disputes arise out of or in connection with an employer-employee relationship between the parties.[8]
1. Unfair labor practice cases;
2. Termination disputes;
3. If accompanied with a claim for reinstatement, those cases that workers may file involving wages, rates of pay, hours of work and other terms and conditions of employment;
4. Claims for actual, moral, exemplary and other forms of damages arising from employer-employee relations;
5. Cases arising from any violation of Article 264 of this Code, including questions involving the legality of strikes and lockouts; and
6. Except claims for employees compensation, Social Security, Medicare and maternity benefits, all other claims, arising from employer-employee relations, including those of persons in domestic or household service, involving an amount exceeding five thousand pesos (P5,000.00), regardless of whether accompanied with a claim for reinstatement."[7]
"x x x From the very beginning of the sugar industry, the centrals have never had any privity of any kind with the plantation laborers, since they had their own laborers to take care of. In other words, both the centrals and the planters have always been the one dealing with their respective laborers regarding the terms and conditions of their employment, particularly as to wages. x x x."[10]Sugar farm workers/laborers were the direct responsibility of their respective planters and the central did not deal with the planter’s workers but only with the planter.
"SECTION 1. In the absence of written milling agreements between the majority of planters and the millers of sugar-cane in any milling district in the Philippines, the unrefined sugar produced in that district from the milling by any sugar central of the sugar-cane of any sugar-cane planter or plantation owner, as well as all by-products and derivatives thereof, shall be divided between them as follows:The planter’s share included the workers’ share such that if any increase was made on the planter’s participation in the proceeds, it became the planter’s obligation to pay his workers their 60% share of such increase. To ensure that the workers received their share, the law tasked the Department of Labor with the distribution thereof, thus:
Sixty per centum for the planter, and forty per centum for the central in any milling district the maximum actual production of which is not more than four hundred thousand piculs: Provided, That the provisions of this section shall not apply to sugar centrals with an actual production of less than one hundred fifty thousand piculs;
Sixty-two and one-half per centum for the planter, and thirty-seven and one-half per centum for the central in any milling district the maximum actual production of which exceeds four hundred thousand piculs but does not exceed six hundred thousand piculs;
Sixty-five per centum for the planter, and thirty-five per centum for the central in any milling district the maximum actual production of which exceeds six hundred thousand piculs but does not exceed nine hundred thousand piculs;
Sixty-seven and one-half per centum for the planter, and thirty-two and one-half per centum for the central in any milling district the maximum actual production of which exceeds nine hundred thousand piculs but does not exceed one million two hundred thousand piculs;
Seventy per centum for the planter, and thirty per centum for the central in any milling district the maximum actual production of which exceeds one million two hundred thousand piculs.
By actual production is meant the total production of the mill for the crop year immediately preceding."
"SECTION 9. In addition to the benefits granted by the Minimum Wage Law, the proceeds of any increase in the participation granted the planters under this Act and above their present share shall be divided between the planter and his laborer in the plantation in the following proportion:Clearly, there is no privity between the sugar centrals and the sugar farm workers. The workers are not employees of the sugar central but of the planter.[12] And R.A. 809 expressly recognizes the planter, not the central, as the employer of the farm workers by imposing on it the duty of paying its respective workers their share of the proceeds from the milled sugar. As held by this Court:
Sixty per centum of the increased participation for the laborers and forty per centum for the planters. The distribution of the share corresponding to the laborers shall be made under the supervision of the Department of Labor.
The benefits granted to laborers in sugar plantations under this Act and in the Minimum Wage Law shall not in any way be diminished by such labor contracts known as "by the piece," "by the volume," "by the area," or by the other system of "pakyaw," the Secretary of Labor being hereby authorized to issue the necessary orders for the enforcement of this provision."
"x x x. Accordingly, the only obligation of the centrals, like VICTORIAS, is to give to the respective planters, like the PLANTERS herein, the planters’ share of the proceeds of the milled sugar in the proportion stipulated in the milling contract which would necessarily include the portion of 60% pertaining to the laborers. Once this has been done, the central is already out of the picture, and thereafter, the matter of paying the plantation laborers of the respective planters becomes exclusively the concern of the planters, the laborers and the Department of Labor. Under no principle of law or equity can We impose on the central -- here VICTORIAS -- any liability to the plantation laborers, should any of their respective planters-employers fail to pay their legal share."[13]Private respondent admits that the sugar central may not be held solidarily liable with the planter for the worker’s share. It argues, however, that the central’s non-liability does not preclude it from being impleaded as an indispensable party without whose presence the court cannot proceed and render judgment.[14] It claims that petitioner sugar central and the planters "have conspired, confederated and confabulated" to deprive the workers of their rightful share under the law. It opines that once impleaded, petitioner may be compelled to reveal the names of the planters who milled therewith and submit the milling contracts and other records necessary for the successful prosecution of private respondent’s case.[15]