G.R. No. 106446 November 16, 1993
NATIONAL MINES AND ALLIED WORKERS UNION (NAMAWU-MIF), petitioner, vs. SECRETARY OF LABOR, FEDERATION OF FREE WORKERS – SAMAHANG MANGGAGAWA SA QUALITY CONTAINER CORPORATION AND QUALITY CONTAINER CORPORATION, respondents.

FACTS

Petitioner National Mines and Allied Workers Union (NAMAWU-MIF) was the exclusive bargaining agent of the rank-and-file employees of respondent Quality Container Corporation (QCC). Respondent Federation of Free Workers-Samahang Mangagawa sa Quality Container Corporation (FFW-SMQCC) is another labor union. On September 27, 1991, 38 days before the expiration of the existing Collective Bargaining Agreement between NAMAWU and QCC, FFW-SMQCC, through Reynito de Pedro, filed a petition for certification election (NCR-OD-M-91-09-106) accompanied by a list of signatures of employees consenting to the election. NAMAWU moved to dismiss this petition on grounds that: (a) the required 25% employee consent was not met; (b) the petition was not verified; and (c) Reynito de Pedro, who was also the president of NAMAWU, had no authority to file for FFW-SMQCC. On October 30, 1991, FFW-SMQCC filed a second, verified petition (NCR-OD-91-10-131). The Med-Arbiter granted the petition and ordered a certification election. NAMAWU appealed to the Secretary of Labor, who affirmed the Med-Arbiter’s decision. NAMAWU then filed this petition for certiorari and prohibition, contending grave abuse of discretion.

ISSUE

Whether the Secretary of Labor committed grave abuse of discretion in affirming the order for a certification election.

RULING

The Supreme Court dismissed the petition, finding no grave abuse of discretion. The Court ruled that: (1) Reynito de Pedro had disaffiliated from NAMAWU and joined FFW-SMQCC before filing the petition, so he had the personality to file it; (2) verification is a formal, not jurisdictional, requirement, and any defect in the first petition was cured by the second verified petition, especially since technical rules are not binding in non-adversarial certification proceedings; and (3) even assuming some signatures in the supporting list were forged or disowned, the remaining valid signatures (92) still exceeded the 25% requirement (75 out of 300 employees). The undated list of signatures does not prove they were obtained outside the freedom period, as the petition was filed during the 60-day freedom period before the CBA’s expiration. A certification election is the most effective method to determine the true representative of the employees.