GR 119360; (October, 1997) (Digest)
G.R. No. 119360 October 10, 1997
Philippine Airlines, Inc., petitioner, vs. The Hon. Acting Secretary of Labor Jose S. Brillantes and The Philippine Airlines Employees’ Association, respondents.
FACTS
Petitioner Philippine Airlines, Inc. (PAL) sought the termination from employment of certain members and officers of respondent union PAL Employees’ Association (PALEA) for staging a strike in violation of a return-to-work order issued by the Secretary of Labor. The Acting Secretary of Labor, Jose S. Brillantes, instead meted out an eight-month suspension penalty upon eighteen PALEA officers and members and directed PAL to reinstate them after service of suspension. The Court, in a prior Resolution dated November 18, 1996, dismissed PAL’s petition for certiorari and affirmed the Acting Secretary’s Order. PAL filed a Motion for Reconsideration, arguing that the suspension order violated Article 264 of the Labor Code and contradicted previous jurisprudence which held that participation in a strike defying a return-to-work order results in the loss of employment status. PAL cited cases such as Philippine Airlines, Inc. vs. Drilon. The Court noted that the suspended union officers and members had served their suspensions but had not been reinstated by PAL.
ISSUE
Whether the Acting Secretary of Labor and the Court correctly imposed the penalty of suspension, instead of dismissal, upon the PALEA officers and members who participated in a strike in violation of a return-to-work order.
RULING
The Court denied PAL’s Motion for Reconsideration with finality. It upheld the imposition of suspension instead of dismissal. The Court distinguished the instant case from previous cited jurisprudence by noting the peculiar circumstance that PAL did not come with “clean hands,” as it had itself violated the Secretary of Labor’s order by terminating en masse 183 union officers and members during the dispute. This mutual contributory action to the volatile atmosphere warranted a judicious solution different from the capital punishment of dismissal. The Court invoked its judicial prerogative to resolve disputes in a manner that preserves industrial peace and labor-management stability. Furthermore, the Court ordered PAL to immediately reinstate the suspended union members and officers and to pay them full backwages and other accrued benefits from the time their suspensions were served until actual reinstatement.