G.R. No. 106161 February 1, 1995
ILOCOS SUR ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE, INC. and EFREN BAUTISTA, petitioners, vs. THE NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, and the NLRC, REGIONAL ARBITRATORS, BRANCH NO. I, (San Fernando, La Union), respondents.

FACTS

Engr. Egdon Sabio was employed as Manager of the Engineering Department of Ilocos Sur Electric Cooperative (ISECO). On June 8, 1989, he wrote to the ISECO Board of Directors about the expenses and frequent absences of Acting General Manager Atty. Efren Bautista. The next day, Bautista summoned Sabio and asked him to file an irrevocable resignation letter, threatening termination if he did not comply. Sabio refused and instead sent a letter of apology on June 10, 1989. On the same day, he received a memo from Bautista relieving him from his position without stating a reason. On June 16, 1989, Bautista issued a memo charging Sabio with grave misconduct and requiring him to explain. Sabio denied the charges. On June 30, 1989, Bautista placed him under preventive suspension without pay, effective July 1, 1989. Sabio filed a complaint for illegal suspension. An ad hoc committee was created to investigate, which found Sabio guilty and recommended dismissal. The ISECO Board adopted this recommendation and passed Resolution No. 63, s. 1989, terminating Sabio’s services retroactive to July 1, 1989. Sabio then filed a complaint for illegal dismissal with the NLRC. The Labor Arbiter ruled that Sabio was illegally and unjustly dismissed without due process, ordering his reinstatement with full backwages and payment of moral and exemplary damages. Petitioners appealed to the NLRC, which dismissed the appeal for having been filed out of time. A motion for reconsideration was denied. A writ of execution was subsequently issued.

ISSUE

1. Whether or not the NLRC has jurisdiction over the case of Engr. Egdon A. Sabio.
2. Whether or not Engr. Egdon A. Sabio was dismissed by the Board of Directors of ISECO in accordance with law.

RULING

1. Yes, the NLRC has jurisdiction. The petitioners’ argument that Presidential Decree No. 269, as amended, grants the National Electrification Administration (NEA) exclusive jurisdiction over electric cooperatives’ employees pertains to NEA’s power of supervision and control over the cooperatives themselves, not to labor disputes involving employees. The NLRC retains jurisdiction over termination cases of electric cooperative employees. Furthermore, the petitioners are estopped from questioning the NLRC’s jurisdiction as they actively participated in the proceedings before the Labor Arbiter and the NLRC without raising the jurisdictional issue until their petition for certiorari to the Supreme Court.
2. No, Engr. Egdon Sabio was not dismissed in accordance with law. The Labor Arbiter found that Sabio was illegally dismissed without due process. The charges against him were not substantiated. His act of reporting the alleged extravagance and absences of the Acting General Manager was done in good faith and was a bounden duty to protect the cooperative’s interests. The findings of fact of the Labor Arbiter, which were based on substantial evidence and affirmed by the NLRC’s resolution on procedural grounds, are binding. In certiorari proceedings, judicial review is limited to whether the public respondents acted without or in excess of jurisdiction or with grave abuse of discretion, and there was no showing of such abuse. The petition was dismissed for lack of merit.