G.R. No. 152923 January 19, 2009
NORTHEASTERN COLLEGE TEACHERS AND EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION, represented by LESLIE GUMARANG, petitioner, vs. NORTHEASTERN COLLEGE, INC., respondent.

FACTS

Petitioner Northeastern College Teachers & Employees Association (NCTEA), represented by its then-President Leslie Gumarang, filed two consolidated complaints against respondent Northeastern College, Inc. (NC) for Unfair Labor Practice, Underpayment of Wages, Illegal Layoff, and Non-Payment of Holiday Pay, among others. On August 13, 1992, Labor Arbiter Gregorio C. Calasan rendered a decision ordering the parties to compute the amounts due to each employee and for NC to pay the same. NC received a copy on August 26, 1992, and did not appeal, making the decision final and executory on September 5, 1992. NCTEA filed a Motion for Enforcement with a computation of P2,145,711.86. The Labor Arbiter ordered NC to comment on the computation, but NC failed to do so. Subsequently, the Labor Arbiter issued a writ of execution for P2,150,630.80 based on NCTEA’s computation, construing NC’s failure to submit its own computation as confirmation of NCTEA’s figures. NC filed a Motion to Quash the writ, which was denied by the Labor Arbiter on February 3, 1993. NC did not appeal this denial. The Labor Arbiter then issued an Alias Writ of Execution. NC filed a Complaint for Injunction with the NLRC to enjoin the execution, but the NLRC dismissed it. NC’s motion for reconsideration of this dismissal remained unresolved. Execution proceedings continued, resulting in the auction of NC’s properties to satisfy the award. NC challenged the execution proceedings before the Court of Appeals, which initially annulled the NLRC’s decision but later, in an Amended Decision, reversed itself and affirmed the NLRC’s decision upholding the Labor Arbiter’s orders.

ISSUE

Whether the Court of Appeals erred in its Amended Decision which affirmed the NLRC’s decision and upheld the Labor Arbiter’s orders for the execution of the final and executory judgment.

RULING

The Supreme Court DENIED the petition and AFFIRMED the Amended Decision of the Court of Appeals. The Court held that the Labor Arbiter’s decision of August 13, 1992, had become final and executory due to NC’s failure to appeal. The subsequent orders of the Labor Arbiter, including the writs of execution, were merely directives to enforce this final judgment. The Court emphasized the doctrine of finality of judgment, stating that a decision that has attained finality becomes immutable and unalterable. The Labor Arbiter acted within his jurisdiction in issuing the writs of execution to enforce the final judgment. The Court found no grave abuse of discretion in the Labor Arbiter’s acts, as he was compelling obedience to a final and executory judgment. The Court of Appeals correctly ruled that the NLRC did not commit any grave abuse of discretion in dismissing NC’s complaint for injunction, as the execution was a valid enforcement of a final judgment.