561 Phil. 620
CHICO-NAZARIO, J.:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, judgment is hereby rendered ordering [herein petitioner] Mount Carmel College represented by Fr. Modesto Malandac to pay [herein respondents] Jocelyn Resuena, Zonsayda Emnace, Eddie Villalon and Sylvia Sedayon, their respective 13th month pay, separation pay and attorney’s fee in the total sum of THREE HUNDRED THIRTY-FOUR THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED SEVENTY-FIVE PESOS AND 67/100 (P334,875.47) to be deposited with this office within ten (10) days from receipt of this decision.On 9 September 1999, Labor Arbiter Drilon issued to the parties a Notice of Judgment/Decision of his 25 May 1999 Decision. The notice indicated that a “decision of the Labor Arbiter reinstating a dismissed or separated employee, in so far as the reinstatement aspect is concerned, shall immediately be executory, even pending appeal. The employee shall either be admitted back to work under the same terms and conditions prevailing prior to his dismissal or separation or at the option of the employee (sic) merely reinstated in the payroll.”[7]
The complaint for moral and exemplary damages is hereby dismissed for lack of legal basis.
All other claims are hereby dismissed for lack of merit.[6]
We rule that complainants were illegally dismissed and must therefore be ordered reinstated with payment of backwages from the time they were illegally dismissed up to the time of their actual reinstatement.Petitioner filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the 30 October 2001 Decision of the NLRC. The said Motion was denied in the 19 June 2003 Resolution of the NLRC.
All other claims are hereby dismissed for lack of merit.
WHEREFORE, premises considered the instant appeal is hereby DISMISSED for lack of merit and the appealed decision is hereby AFFIRMED with modification ordering the [herein petitioner] the payment of the backwages of the [herein respondents] from May 15, 1998 up to May 25, 1999, further directing the reinstatement of the [respondents] to their original positions without loss of seniority or in lieu thereof the payment of their separation pay as computed in the appealed decision.[8]
Consequently, we find no grave abuse of discretion committed by the NLRC in ruling that [herein respondents] have been illegally dismissed. Likewise, said [NLRC] correctly held that even if such participation of [respondents] in the protest picket is rather improper under the circumstances or disappointing to the School Administrator who had rightly expected them to take the side of the administration or at least stayed neutral on the demand for ouster of Fr. Malandac and Barairo, dismissal is definitely too harsh where a less punitive action such as reprimand or disciplinary action would have been sufficient. Considering the long years of faithful service of [respondents] in the School without previous record of misconduct, as duly noted by the NLRC in its decision, their termination on the basis of alleged loss of confidence by taking part in an otherwise legitimate and constitutionally-protected right to free speech and peaceful assembly, is certainly illegal and unjustified.No Motion for Reconsideration of the afore-quoted Court of Appeals Decision in CA-G.R. SP No. 80639 was filed and it became final and executory on 14 April 2004.
x x x x
Having been illegally dismissed, [respondents] are entitled to back wages from the time of their termination until reinstatement, and if reinstatement is no longer possible, the grant of separation pay equivalent to one (1) month for every year of service. However, in this case since the Labor Arbiter did not order reinstatement, the NLRC correctly excluded the period of the appeal in the computation of back wages due to [respondents].
Finally, on the prayer for injunctive relief sought by petitioner on the ground that [public respondent] Labor Arbiter exceeded his jurisdiction in issuing the writ of execution despite the fact that his decision did not order reinstatement and that he is bereft of authority to implement the decision of the NLRC (Fourth Division).
x x x x
Considering that there is already an entry of judgment on the Decision dated October 30, 2001, and in view of Our disposition of this petition, we find no more obstacle for the enforcement of the said judgment even pending appeal, in accordance with Sections 1 and 2, Rule VIII of the NLRC Rules of Procedure, as amended, as well as Sections 2, 4 and 6, Rule III of the NLRC Manual on Execution of Judgment.
x x x x
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the present petition is hereby DENIED DUE COURSE and accordingly DISMISSED for lack of merit. The assailed Decision and Resolution are AFFIRMED.[9]
To be sure the Court has not been consistent in its interpretation of Art. 223. The nagging issue has always been whether the reinstatement order is self-executory. Citing the divergent views of the court beginning with Inciong v. NLRC followed by the deviation in interpretation in Maranaw Hotel Corporation (Century Park Sheraton Manila) v. NLRC, as reiterated and adopted in Archilles Manufacturing Corporation v. NLRC and Purificacion Ram v. NLRC, the Court in the 1997 Pioneer case has laid down the doctrine that henceforth an Order or award for reinstatement is self-executory, meaning that it does not require a writ of execution, much less a motion for its issuance, as maintained by petitioner. x x x.Successive writs of execution pertaining to the backwages and accrued salaries of the respondents were issued by Labor Arbiter Pura on these dates: 9 June 2003,[10] 10 December 2003,[11] and 20 January 2004.[12]
In light of the foregoing, we have no choice but to adopt the computation of the RAB Fiscal Examiner, hereto attached and forming part of the record of these cases and conformably thereto, we grant the Motion to Issue Writ of Execution on backwages for the period stated in this computation, taking into consideration the grant of differentials as there are benefits which accrued to the [herein respondents] and which they should have enjoyed had they been employed and/or reinstated, as the case may be, and such other amount as may accrue until actually reinstated or in lieu of reinstatement, to pay [respondents] separation pay to be computed at one (1) month salary for every year of service in addition to backwages the formula adopted by the Labor Arbiter in the Decision dated May 25, 1999, page 7, paragraph 1.On 8 February 2005, petitioner filed a Motion for Reconsideration of the foregoing Order contending that the judgment of the NLRC mandated the payment of separation pay as computed in the appealed decision. Respondents likewise filed a Manifestation and Motion to include the month of November 2004 in the computation. In an Order dated 10 February 2005, the Labor Arbiter denied the petitioner’s Motion for Reconsideration. On 22 February 2005, he issued an Alias Writ of Execution[17] for the collection from petitioner of the amount of P1,131,035.00 representing respondents’ backwages, separation pay, and attorney’s fees. Petitioner filed a Motion to Quash the Alias Writ of Execution on 17 March 2005.[18]
Let therefore a Writ of Execution be, as it is hereby issued to enforce judgment in the above entitled cases.[16]
WHEREFORE, for lack of merit the Motion to Quash the Alias Writ dated March 17, 2005 is denied. [Respondents’] Motion to Include February and March 2005 in the Computation of wages is hereby GRANTED. The entry of appearance of the collaborating counsel is duly noted.[19]From the said Order of the Labor Arbiter, petitioner filed with the NLRC an appeal with an application for issuance of a writ of preliminary injunction on the execution of judgment, docketed as NLRC Case No. V-000377-05. Petitioner assailed the 15 April 2005 Order of the Labor Arbiter averring that the latter seriously committed errors when he ordered the payment and garnishment of backwages beyond the period 15 May 1998 to 25 May 1999. The NLRC dismissed the petitioner’s appeal in a Resolution[20] dated 15 August 2005 for lack of merit. Petitioner filed a Motion for Reconsideration but it was denied by the NLRC in a Resolution dated 30 November 2005, disposed of as follows:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the appeal of respondents is hereby DISMISSED for lack of merit. The 15 April 2005 Order of Labor Arbiter Phibun Pura is AFFIRMED.[21]From the foregoing, petitioner filed with the Court of Appeals a Special Civil Action for Certiorari and Prohibition, docketed as CA-G.R. CEB-SP No. 01615, praying for the setting aside and nullification of the Resolutions dated 15 August 2005 and 30 November 2005 of the NLRC in NLRC Case No. V-000377-05. Petitioner contended that the NLRC acted with grave abuse of discretion when it denied its appeal and motion for reconsideration and in not ruling that there was already satisfaction of judgment. The crux of petitioner’s case, as succinctly worded by the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CEB-SP No. 01615:
[P]etitioner seeks to annul and set aside the resolutions dated August 15, 2005 and November 30, 2005 of the respondent NLRC in NLRC Case No. V-000377-05 when the latter refuses to invalidate the various writs of executions and to refund petitioner of whatever excess there might be on the theory that the execution done by the respondent Labor Arbiter was illegal and in fact goes beyond what is stated in the decision dated October 30, 2001 of the respondent NLRC in NLRC Case No. V-000176-2000.[22]The Court of Appeals eventually dismissed CA-G.R. CEB-SP No. 01615, ruling as follows:
Thus, petitioner’s avowal that their liability for private respondents’ backwages is limited from May 15, 1998 up to May 25, 1999 is untenable on these grounds:Hence, petitioner filed the instant Petition for Review on Certiorari, raising the following issues:
First, there is no showing, in the case at bench, that petitioner exercised its option to reinstate private respondents to their former position or to grant them separation pay. Accordingly, backwages have to be granted to private respondents until their reinstatement to their former position is effected or upon petitioner’s payment of separation pay to private respondents if reinstatement is no longer feasible; and
Second, the decision dated March 17, 2004 of the 17th Division of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 80639 acquiesced the propriety of the issuance of the writs of execution by the respondent labor arbiter on June 9, 2003, December 10, 2003 and January 30, 2004. On April 14, 2004, the said decision which sanctioned the payment of backwages even beyond May 25, 1999, became final and executory x x x.
x x x x
In light of the foregoing disquisition, we hereby find public respondent NLRC to have acted accordingly and without grave abuse of discretion when it issued the questioned Resolutions dated August 15, 2005 and November 30, 2005, respectively. Grave abuse of discretion means such capricious and whimsical exercise of judgment as is equivalent to lack of jurisdiction, or, in other words where the power is exercised in an arbitrary or despotic manner by reason of passion or personal hostility, and it must be so patent and gross as to amount to an evasion of positive duty or to a virtual refusal to perform the duty enjoined or to act at all in contemplation of law. It is not sufficient that a tribunal, in the exercise of power, abused its discretion; such abuse must be grave.
WHEREFORE, in view of the foregoing, the present petition is hereby DISMISSED and the assailed Resolutions dated August 15, 2005 and November 30, 2005, respectively, issued by the respondent NLRC in NLRC Case No. V-000377-05 are hereby AFFIRMED.[23]
THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS ERRED IN UPHOLDING THE LABOR ARBITER AND THE NLRC THAT THE AWARD OF BACKWAGES GOES BEYOND THE PERIOD FROM 15 MAY 1998 UP TO 25 MAY 1999 ON THE SUPPOSITION THAT REINSTATEMENT IS SELF-EXECUTORY AND DOES NOT NEED A WRIT OF EXECUTION FOR ITS ENFORCEMENT.Petitioner prays that this Court render judgment (a) annulling and setting aside the assailed Decision on 02 June 2006 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. CEB-SP No. 01615 and all its orders and issuances; (b) ordering that backwages be computed and executed corresponding only to the period from 15 May 1998 to 25 May 1999; (c) ordering that separation pay be computed based on the computation as originally submitted by the Labor Arbiter, P344,875.47, which corresponds to the date of respondents’ employment until 15 May 1998; (d) that no other award except for backwages for the period 15 May 1998 to 25 May 1999 and separation pay amounting to P344,875.47 shall be paid by petitioner; and (e) that the respondents be ordered to refund and pay the alleged excess in the amounts garnished by virtue of the Writs of Execution dated 9 June 2003, 10 December 2003, and 30 January 2004.
II.
THE HONORABLE COURT OF APPEALS ERRED IN NOT FINIDING THAT THE CONTINUING GRANT AND AWARD OF BACKWAGES UP TO THE PRESENT IS CONTRARY TO LAW AND JURISPRUDENCE AS LAID DOWN BY THIS HONORABLE SUPREME COURT.
In other words, reinstatement during appeal is warranted only when the labor arbiter (LA) himself rules that the dismissed employee should be reinstated. In the present case, neither the dispositive portion nor the text of the labor arbiter’s decision ordered the reinstatement of private respondent. Further, the back wages granted to private respondent were specifically limited to the period prior to the filing of the appeal with Respondent NLRC. In fact, the LA’s decision ordered her separation from service for the parties’ “mutual advantage and most importantly to physical and health welfare of the complainant.” Hence, it is an error and an abuse of discretion for the NLRC to hold that the award of limited back wages, by implication, included an order for private respondent’s reinstatement.Petitioner’s reliance on Filflex is misplaced and inapplicable to the case at bar. Indeed in Filflex, this Court ruled that the award of backwages is limited to the period prior to the filing of the appeal with the NLRC. This Court had declared in the aforesaid case that reinstatement during appeal is warranted only when the Labor Arbiter himself rules that the dismissed employee should be reinstated. But this was precisely because on appeal to the NLRC, it found that there was no illegal dismissal; thus, neither reinstatement nor backwages may be awarded. In fact, Filfex deleted the award of backwages granted during appeal, reiterating that an award of backwages by the NLRC during the period of appeal is totally inconsistent with its finding of a valid dismissal. In the instant petition, the NLRC Decision dated 30 October 2001 finding the termination of respondents illegal, had the effect of reversing Labor Arbiter Drilon’s Decision dated 25 May 1999.
An order for reinstatement must be specifically declared and cannot be presumed; like back wages, it is a separate and distinct relief given to an illegally dismissed employee. There being no specific order for reinstatement and the order being for complainant’s separation, there can be no basis for the award of salaries/back wages during the pendency of appeal.
Art. 224. Execution of decisions, orders or awards. -- (a) The Secretary of Labor and Employment or any Regional Director, the Commission or any Labor Arbiter, or med-arbiter or voluntary arbitrator may, motu proprio or on motion of any interested party, issue a writ of execution on a judgment within five (5) years from the date it becomes final and executory x x x.[31]The records of the case indicate that when Labor Arbiter Drilon issued its 25 May 1999 Decision, there was no order of reinstatement yet although the dispositive portion of the 31 January 2005 Order issued by Labor Arbiter Pura already provided for reinstatement or payment of separation pay, to wit:
If the execution be for the reinstatement of any person to any position, office or employment, such writ shall be served by the sheriff upon the losing party or upon any other person required by law to obey the same, and such party or person may be punished for contempt if he disobeys such decisions, order for reinstatement.[32]
In light of the foregoing, we have no choice but to adopt the computation of the RAB Fiscal Examiner, hereto attached and forming part of the record of these cases and conformably thereto, we grant the Motion to Issue Writ of Execution on backwages for the period stated in this computation, taking into consideration the grant of differentials as there are benefits which accrued to the complainants and which they should have enjoyed had they been employed and/or reinstated, as the case may be, and such other amount as may accrue until actually reinstated or in lieu of reinstatement, to pay complainants separation pay to be computed at one (1) month salary for every year of service in addition to backwages the formula adopted by the Labor Arbiter in the Decision dated May 25, 1999, page 7, paragraph 1.Art. 223 of the Labor Code provides that reinstatement is immediately executory even pending appeal only when the Labor Arbiter himself ordered the reinstatement. In this case, the original Decision of Labor Arbiter Drilon did not order reinstatement. Reinstatement in this case was actually ordered by the NLRC, affirmed by the Court of Appeals. The order of Labor Arbiter Pura on 31 January 2005 directing reinstatement was issued after the Court of Appeals Decision dated 17 March 2004 which affirmed the NLRC’s order of reinstatement. Thus, Art. 223 finds no application in the instant case. Considering that the order for reinstatement was first decided upon appeal to the NLRC and affirmed with finality by the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP 80369 on 17 March 2004, petitioner rightly invoked Art. 224 of the Labor Code. As contemplated by Article 224 of the Labor Code, the Secretary of Labor and Employment or any Regional Director, the Commission or any Labor Arbiter, or med-arbiter or voluntary arbitrator may, motu proprio or on motion of any interested party, issue a writ of execution on a judgment within five (5) years from the date it becomes final and executory. Consequently, under Rule III of the NLRC Manual on the Execution of Judgment, it is provided that if the execution be for the reinstatement of any person to a position, an office or an employment, such writ shall be served by the sheriff upon the losing party or upon any other person required by law to obey the same, and such party or person may be punished for contempt if he disobeys such decision or order for reinstatement.[34]
Let therefore a Writ of Execution be, as it is hereby issued to enforce judgment in the above entitled cases.[33]
We rule that complainants were illegally dismissed and must therefore be ordered reinstated with payment of backwages from the time they were illegally dismissed up to the time of their actual reinstatement.When the afore-quoted NLRC Decision was appealed to the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 80639, there seemed to be a contradiction between the body and the fallo of the appellate court’s Decision dated 17 March 2004. Petitioner cites the following from the text of the Court of Appeals Decision:
All other claims are hereby dismissed for lack of merit.
WHEREFORE, premises considered the instant appeal is hereby DISMISSED for lack of merit and the appealed decision is hereby AFFIRMED with modification ordering the respondents the payment of the backwages of the complainants from May 15, 1998 up to May 25, 1999, further directing the reinstatement of the complainants to their original positions without loss of seniority or in lieu thereof the payment of their separation pay as computed in the appealed decision.[38]
However, in this case since the Labor Arbiter did not order reinstatement, the NLRC correctly excluded the period of the appeal in the computation of back wages due to private respondents.[39]The dispositive portion of the same Decision, however, concludes:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the present petition is hereby DENIED DUE COURSE and accordingly DISMISSED for lack of merit. The assailed Decision and Resolution are AFFIRMED.[40]The general rule is that where there is conflict between the dispositive portion or the fallo and the body of the decision, the fallo controls. This rule rests on the theory that the fallo is the final order while the opinion in the body is merely a statement ordering nothing.[41] Clearly, the award of backwages to respondents does not merely cover the period from 15 May 1998 up to 25 May 1999 alone.[42] The findings of the NLRC, which were affirmed with finality in CA-G.R. SP No. 80639, and subject of execution in the instant petition, pronounced:
We rule that [respondents] were illegally dismissed and must therefore be ordered reinstated with payment of backwages from the time they were illegally dismissed up to the time of their actual reinstatement.The above ruling of the NLRC in its Decision dated 30 October 2001 had the effect of reversing and modifying the findings of the Labor Arbiter. Under Article 218(c) of the Labor Code, the Commission is empowered to “correct, amend, or waive any error, defect or irregularity whether in substance or form,” in the exercise of its appellate jurisdiction.[44] The dispositive portion of the Labor Arbiter’s Decision as worded is clear and needs no further interpretation. The NLRC found respondents to have been illegally dismissed by petitioner, and ordered reinstatement and payment of backwages. Additionally, it stated that where reinstatement is not possible, separation pay as computed in the appealed decision should be awarded to respondents. Petitioner interprets the dispositive portion of the NLRC Decision to mean that it is ordered to pay respondents backwages from 15 May 1998 to 25 May 1999 only. Petitioner seems to have missed that the aforestated NLRC Decision also directed it to reinstate respondents, or in lieu thereof, pay separation pay. This, petitioner failed to do. Petitioner did not exercise the option of either reinstatement or paying the separation pay of respondents.
All other claims are hereby dismissed for lack of merit.
WHEREFORE, premises considered the instant appeal is hereby DISMISSED for lack of merit and the appealed decision is hereby AFFIRMED with modification ordering the [petitioner] payment of the backwages of the [respondents] from May 15, 1998 up to May 25, 1999, further directing the reinstatement of the [respondents] to their original positions without loss of seniority or in lieu thereof the payment of their separation pay as computed in the appealed decision.[43]
Art. 279. Security of Tenure. – x x xThus, an illegally dismissed employee is entitled to two reliefs: backwages and reinstatement. The two reliefs provided are separate and distinct. In instances where reinstatement is no longer feasible because of strained relations between the employee and the employer, separation pay is granted. In effect, an illegally dismissed employee is entitled to either reinstatement, if viable, or separation pay if reinstatement is no longer viable, and backwages.[45]
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.