Mariveles Shipyard Corp v. Court Of Appeals

QUISUMBING, J.:

For review on certiorari is the Resolution,1 dated December 29, 1999, of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 55416, which dismissed outright the petition for certiorari of Mariveles Shipyard Corp., due to a defective certificate of non-forum shopping and non-submission of the required documents to accompany said petition. Mariveles Shipyard Corp., had filed a special civil action for certiorari with the Court of Appeals to nullify the resolution2 of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC), dated April 22, 1999, in NLRC NCR Case No. 00-09-005440-96-A, which affirmed the Labor Arbiter's decision,3 dated May 22, 1998, holding petitioner jointly and severally liable with Longest Force Investigation and Security Agency, Inc., for the underpayment of wages and overtime pay due to the private respondents. Likewise challenged in the instant petition is the resolution4 of the Court of Appeals, dated July 12, 2000, denying petitioner's motion for reconsideration.

The facts, as culled from records, are as follows: Sometime on October 1993, petitioner Mariveles Shipyard Corporation engaged the services of Longest Force Investigation and Security Agency, Inc. (hereinafter, "Longest Force") to render security services at its premises. Pursuant to their agreement, Longest Force deployed its security guards, the private respondents herein, at the petitioner's shipyard in Mariveles, Bataan. According to petitioner, it religiously complied with the terms of the security contract with Longest Force, promptly paying its bills and the contract rates of the latter.

However, it found the services being rendered by the assigned guards unsatisfactory and inadequate, causing it to terminate its contract with Longest Force on April 1995.5 Longest Force, in turn, terminated the employment of the security guards it had deployed at petitioner's shipyard. On September 2, 1996, private respondents filed a case for illegal dismissal, underpayment of wages pursuant to the PNPSOSIA-PADPAO rates, non-payment of overtime pay, premium pay for holiday and rest day, service incentive leave pay, 13th month pay and attorney's fees, against both Longest Force and petitioner, before the Labor Arbiter. Docketed as NLRC NCR Case No. 00-09-005440-96-A, the case sought the guards' reinstatement with full backwages and without loss of seniority rights.

For its part, Longest Force filed a cross-claim6 against the petitioner. Longest Force admitted that it employed private respondents and assigned them as security guards at the premises of petitioner from October 16, 1993 to April 30, 1995, rendering a 12 hours duty per shift for the said period. It likewise admitted its liability as to the non-payment of the alleged wage differential in the total amount of ₱2,618,025 but passed on the liability to petitioner alleging that the service fee paid by the latter to it was way below the PNPSOSIA and PADPAO rate, thus, "contrary to the mandatory and prohibitive laws because the right to proper compensation and benefits provided under the existing labor laws cannot be waived nor compromised."

The petitioner denied any liability on account of the alleged illegal dismissal, stressing that no employer-employee relationship existed between it and the security guards.

It further pointed out that it would be the height of injustice to make it liable again for monetary claims which it had already paid. Anent the cross-claim filed by Longest Force against it, petitioner prayed that it be dismissed for lack of merit. Petitioner averred that Longest Force had benefited from the contract, it was now estopped from questioning said agreement on the ground that it had made a bad deal.

On May 22, 1998, the Labor Arbiter decided NLRC NCR Case No. 00-09-005440-96-A, to wit:

WHEREFORE, conformably with the foregoing, judgment is hereby rendered ordering the respondents as follows: 1. DECLARING respondents Longest Force Investigation & Security Agency, Inc.1âwphi1 and Mariveles Shipyard Corporation jointly and severally liable to pay the money claims of complainants representing underpayment of wages and overtime pay in the total amount of ₱2,700,623.40 based on the PADPAO rates of pay covering the period from October 16, 1993 up to April 29, 1995 broken down as follows: UNDERPAYMENT OF WAGES : PERIOD COVERED MONTHLY PADPAO RATES (8 hrs. duty) ACTUAL SALARY UNDERPAYMENT FOR THE PERIOD WAGE DIRRERENTIALS Oct. 16-Dec. 15/93(2 mos.) ₱5,485.00 ₱5,000 ₱485.00 ₱970.00 Dec. 16/93-Mar. 31/94 (3.5 mos.) 6,630.00 5,000 1,630.00 5,705.00 Apr. 1-Dec. 31/94 (9 mos.) 7,090.00 5,810 1,280.00 11,520.00 Jan. 1-Apr. 29/95 (3.97 mos.) 7,220.00 5,810 1,410.00 5,597 TOTAL UNDERPAYMENTS - - - - - - - - - - - - - -