365 Phil. 286
PURISIMA, J.:
"WHEREFORE, premises considered, respondents are hereby directed to pay complainant Pedro Santos his retirement pay equivalent to 1/2 month pay for every year of service including the five (5) days service incentive leave pay three (3) years prior to the filing of this case and 1/2 of the 13th month pay.Petitioner's appeal filed with the NLRC on August 14, 1995, assailed the said ruling of the Labor Arbiter granting retirement benefits to the herein private respondent, by giving Rep. Act. No. 7641 (Retirement Pay Law) a retroactive application although respondent Pedro Santos had retired almost a year prior to the effectivity of said law on January 7, 1993. It is petitioner's submission that what is applicable is the ruling laid down in Llora Motors, Inc. v. Drilon[3] wherein the Court held that in the absence of a collective bargaining agreement or other employment contract, there is no obligation on the part of the employer to set up a retirement scheme over and above that already established under existing laws. Since Santos has been receiving his retirement benefits from the Social Security System (SSS), he cannot anymore ask for additional benefits from his employer in the absence of company practice, policy or contract granting such benefits.
x x x"[2]
"We sustain the award of the retirement benefits to Santos. Respondents objection thereto is premised on the fact that complainant retired almost a year before the effectivity of R.A. 7641. In the case of Oro Enterprises vs. NLRC. G.R. No. 110861. Nov 14, 1994, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of retroactive application of law considering that claim for benefits was filed when law already took effect. We apply said ruling to instant claim. xxx"[4]Dissatisfied with the aforesaid decision below, petitioner found its way to this Court via the petition under consideration, contending that the NLRC gravely abused its discretion in affirming the decision of the Labor Arbiter awarding retirement benefits to private respondent Pedro Santos, by giving retroactive application to the provisions of R.A. 7641.
"Article 287. Retirement. - Any employee may be retired upon reaching the retirement age established in the collective bargaining agreement or other applicable employment contract.In Oro Enterprises, Inc. v. NLRC,[5] the court held that R.A. 7641 can be applied retroactively, rationalizing thus:
In case of retirement, the employee shall be entitled to receive such retirement benefits as he may have earned under existing laws and any collective bargaining agreement and other agreements: Provided, however, that an employee's retirement benefits under any collective bargaining and other agreements shall not be less than those provided herein.
In the absence of a retirement plan or agreement providing for retirement benefits of employees in the establishment, an employee upon reaching the age of sixty (60) years or more, but not beyond sixty-five (65) years which is hereby declared the compulsory retirement age, who has served at least five (5) years in the said establishment, may retire and shall be entitled to retirement pay equivalent to at least one half (1/2) month salary for every year of service, a fraction of at least six (6) months being considered as one whole year.
Unless the parties provide for broader inclusions, the term "one half (1/2) month salary" shall mean fifteen (15) days plus one twelfth (1/12) of the 13th month pay and the cash equivalent of not more than five (5) days of service incentive leaves.x x x
Violation of this provision is hereby declared unlawful and subject to the penal provisions provided under article 288 of this Code."
"R.A. 7641 is undoubtedly, a social legislation. The law has been enacted as a labor protection measure and as a curative statue that - absent a retirement plan devised by, an agreement with, or a voluntary grant from an employer - can respond, in part at least to the financial well-being of workers during their twilight years soon following their life of labor. There should be little doubt about the fact that the law can apply to labor contracts still existing at the time the statute has taken effect, and that its benefits can be reckoned not only from the date of the law's enactment but retroactively to the time said employment contracts have started. xxx" (underscoring supplied)In CJC Trading Inc. v. NLRC,[6] the aforecited doctrine was elaborated upon by enumerating the circumstances which must occur before the law could be given retroactive effect, to wit: (1) the claimant for retirement benefits was still the employee of the employer at the time the statute took effect; and (2) the claimant has complied with the requirements for eligibility under the statute for such retirement benefits.