GR 116016; (April, 1996) (Digest)
G.R. No. 116016 April 26, 1996
ALDIN H. GARAIS, et al., petitioners, vs. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, A.P. PLACEMENT SPECIALIST CENTER and SAAD CONSTRUCTION ESTABLISHMENT, respondents.
FACTS
Petitioners were overseas workers deployed to Saudi Arabia by respondent A.P. Placement for Saad Construction. Their employment was terminated in February 1990, allegedly for poor performance and violations of company rules, with deductions made from their wages for repatriation costs. They filed complaints for illegal dismissal before the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA). The POEA ruled in their favor on December 11, 1991, ordering the respondents to pay monetary awards.
Private respondents appealed the POEA decision to the NLRC. Their memorandum of appeal was dated January 3, 1992. However, the required appeal bond was posted only on March 25, 1992, following an NLRC resolution dated March 20, 1992, which directed its posting based on the respondents’ own computation. Petitioners opposed the appeal, arguing that the POEA decision had become final and executory because the bond was not posted within the ten-day reglementary period mandated by POEA rules. The NLRC, nonetheless, entertained the appeal and subsequently reversed the POEA decision on November 29, 1993, dismissing the complaints.
ISSUE
Whether the National Labor Relations Commission committed grave abuse of discretion in taking cognizance of the appeal despite the alleged failure of private respondents to perfect their appeal within the reglementary period.
RULING
Yes, the NLRC committed grave abuse of discretion. The perfection of an appeal within the reglementary period is both mandatory and jurisdictional. Under Section 5, Rule V of the POEA Rules, an appeal to the NLRC requires, among other things, the posting of a cash or surety bond within ten calendar days from receipt of the decision. This requirement is indispensable for the NLRC to acquire jurisdiction over the appeal.
The records indicate that private respondents received the POEA decision before January 3, 1992, the date of their memorandum of appeal. Even assuming they received it on that latest possible date, the ten-day period to post the bond would have expired on January 13, 1992. The motion to fix the bond was filed only on January 20, 1992, and the bond itself was posted on March 25, 1992, both dates being well beyond the reglementary period. Consequently, the appeal was not perfected on time. The POEA decision of December 11, 1991, had thus become final and executory, depriving the NLRC of jurisdiction to review it. The NLRC’s act of entertaining the belated appeal constituted grave abuse of discretion. The Court set aside the NLRC resolutions and reinstated the final and executory POEA decision.