GR 154002; (August, 2005) (Digest)
G.R. No. 154002 . August 19, 2005.
PHILIPPINE SCOUT VETERANS SECURITY & INVESTIGATION AGENCY, INC. (PSVSIA), Petitioner, vs. JOSE PASCUA, Respondent.
FACTS
Respondent Jose Pascua filed a complaint for illegal dismissal against petitioner PSVSIA. The Labor Arbiter initially dismissed the complaint but, upon remand by the NLRC, subsequently rendered a new Decision finding illegal dismissal and awarding Pascua monetary benefits. Petitioner received this adverse Decision on January 8, 1998, and on January 23, 1998, it filed an appeal with the NLRC along with a motion to reduce the required appeal bond. However, petitioner did not post any appeal bond at that time.
The NLRC dismissed petitioner’s appeal in a Resolution dated March 31, 1998, for failure to post the mandatory appeal bond. Petitioner’s motion for reconsideration was denied. Petitioner then filed a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals, which initially reversed the NLRC. Upon respondent’s motion for reconsideration, the Court of Appeals promulgated an Amended Decision dismissing the petition, ruling that the NLRC correctly dismissed the appeal for non-perfection due to the absence of the appeal bond.
ISSUE
Whether the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the NLRC’s dismissal of petitioner’s appeal for failure to post the required appeal bond within the reglementary period.
RULING
The Supreme Court denied the petition and affirmed the Court of Appeals. The posting of an appeal bond is a mandatory and jurisdictional requirement for perfecting an appeal from a Labor Arbiter’s decision to the NLRC, as expressly mandated by Article 223 of the Labor Code and Section 6, Rule VI of the 1990 NLRC Rules of Procedure. The law allows the filing of a motion to reduce the bond, but such a motion does not suspend the running of the ten-day reglementary period to perfect an appeal.
In this case, petitioner filed its appeal and a motion to reduce bond on the fifteenth day from receipt of the Labor Arbiter’s Decision, which was already beyond the ten-day period. Crucially, it did not post any bond at all within that reglementary period. The Court held that the perfection of an appeal within the period and in the manner prescribed by law is jurisdictional. Failure to comply, such as the non-posting of the bond, renders the Labor Arbiter’s decision final and executory. Therefore, the NLRC committed no grave abuse of discretion in dismissing the appeal, and the Court of Appeals correctly upheld this dismissal.