G.R. No. 154379 , October 31, 2008
PCI TRAVEL CORPORATION, petitioner, vs. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION (3rd Division) & NUBE-AMEXPEA/PCI TRAVEL EMPLOYEES UNION, respondents.

FACTS

Sometime in 1994, respondent NUBE-AMEXPEA/PCI Travel Employees Union filed a complaint for unfair labor practice against petitioner PCI Travel Corporation. The Union alleged that the petitioner was filling positions left by regular rank-and-file employees with contractual employees performing work necessary and desirable to the petitioner’s business. The Union prayed for the payment of wage and benefit differentials to these contractual employees, along with moral and exemplary damages and attorney’s fees. Petitioner moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the Union was not the real party-in-interest and manifested its intent to later prove the employees were provided by legitimate independent contractors. The Labor Arbiter ruled that a motion to dismiss was a prohibited pleading and rendered a decision on the merits in favor of the respondent, declaring the petitioner guilty of unfair labor practice, the contractual employees as regular employees, and ordering the payment of differentials, damages, and attorney’s fees. The NLRC affirmed the decision with modification, deleting the awards of damages. Petitioner filed a petition for certiorari with the Court of Appeals. The CA dismissed the petition outright due to petitioner’s failure to attach copies of relevant pleadings and documents, and because the verification and certification of non-forum shopping was signed by Elizabeth Legarda, the President of the petitioner-corporation, without submitting proof of her authority to sign for the corporation. Petitioner’s motion for reconsideration was denied.

ISSUE

1. Whether the President of a corporation (Elizabeth Legarda) can sign the verification and certification of non-forum shopping without submitting a board resolution authorizing her to do so.
2. Whether the Court of Appeals erred in dismissing the petition for certiorari on technical grounds.

RULING

The Supreme Court granted the petition. On the first issue, the Court, citing Cagayan Valley Drug Corporation v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, ruled that the President of a corporation is authorized to sign the verification and certification against forum shopping without the need of a board resolution, as corporate officers in such positions are in a position to verify the truthfulness of the allegations in the petition. On the second issue, the Court found that the dismissal of the petition by the CA on technical grounds foreclosed petitioner’s right to be heard on the merits. The Court emphasized the policy of encouraging full adjudication on the merits and that ends of justice are better served when controversies are decided on their merits. The Court held that due process dictates that a person be given the opportunity to be heard, which was not accorded to the petitioner when the labor tribunals deemed its failure to file a position paper as a waiver and the appellate court dismissed the petition on technicalities. The Resolutions of the Court of Appeals were set aside and the case was remanded to the Court of Appeals for resolution on the merits.