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Saturday, September 17, 2005
Liberality on posting appeal bond
By Dominador A. Almirante
Labor case digest
Petitioners Lydia Buenaobra and numerous others filed a petition in the Court of Appeals, imputing grave abuse of discretion to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) Third Division, when it allowed private respondent, Fuji Zipper Manufacturing Corp., to post the mandated cash or surety bond four months after the filing of their memorandum of appeal. The Court of Appeals dismissed the petition for lack of merit. Was the dismissal justified?
Ruling: Yes.
The provision of Article 223 of the Labor Code requiring the posting of bond on appeals involving monetary awards must be given liberal interpretation, in line with the desired objective of resolving controversies on the merits. If only to achieve substantial justice, strict observance of the reglamentary periods may be relaxed if warranted. The NLRC Third Division could not be said to have abused its discretion in requiring the posting of bond after it denied private respondents’ motion to be exempted from it.
It is true that the perfection of an appeal in the manner and within the period prescribed by law is not only mandatory but jurisdictional, and failure to perfect an appeal has the effect of making the judgment final and executory. However, technicality should not be allowed to stand in the way of equitably and completely resolving the rights and obligations of the parties. We have allowed appeals from the decisions of the labor arbiter to the NLRC, even if filed beyond the reglamentary period, in the interest of justice. The facts and circumstances of the instant case warrant liberality, considering the amount involved and the fact that petitioners already obtained a favorable judgment on Feb. 23, 1993 against their employer UNIX. (Lydia Buenaobra et. al. vs. Lim King Guan et. al., G.R. No. 150147, Jan. 20, 2004).
(September 17, 2005 issue)
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