GR 155395; (June, 2006) (Digest)
G.R. No. 155395 ; June 22, 2006
Air Philippines Corporation, Petitioner, vs. Bureau of Labor Relations and Air Philippines Flight Attendants Association, Respondents.
FACTS
Air Philippines Corporation (APC) filed a Petition for De-Certification and Cancellation of Union Registration against the Air Philippines Flight Attendants Association (APFLAA) with the DOLE. APC alleged that APFLAA’s membership improperly included a mixture of supervisory and rank-and-file employees, specifically flight attendants holding the position of “Lead Cabin Attendant,” which APC claimed was supervisory. The DOLE-NCR Regional Director dismissed the petition, holding that Article 245 of the Labor Code, which bars supervisory employees from joining rank-and-file unions, does not provide a ground for cancellation of union registration. The Bureau of Labor Relations affirmed this decision.
APC then filed a Petition for Certiorari directly with the Court of Appeals, bypassing a motion for reconsideration of the BLR’s resolution. The Court of Appeals dismissed the petition outright for failure to comply with the condition precedent of filing a motion for reconsideration. APC’s subsequent Motion for Reconsideration was also denied for being defective, as it lacked the required proof of service and registry return receipts.
ISSUE
Whether the Court of Appeals committed reversible error in dismissing APC’s petition for certiorari on procedural grounds and whether APFLAA’s union registration should be cancelled due to its alleged mixed membership of supervisory and rank-and-file employees.
RULING
The Supreme Court denied the petition, upholding the Court of Appeals’ dismissal. Procedurally, the filing of a motion for reconsideration is a condition sine qua non for a certiorari petition, as it allows the lower tribunal to correct its own error. The Court of Appeals acted within its sound discretion in dismissing the petition for non-compliance. Furthermore, APC’s motion for reconsideration was correctly denied for being fatally defective due to lack of proper proof of service.
Substantively, the Court ruled that the alleged inclusion of supervisory employees in a rank-and-file union is not, by itself, a ground for cancellation of union registration under the Labor Code. Article 245 prescribes eligibility for membership but does not enumerate grounds for cancellation, which are exclusively listed in Article 239. For cancellation to proceed under Article 239, the inclusion must be due to misrepresentation, false statement, or fraud in connection with the union’s documents or election of officers, which APC failed to establish. The DOLE-NCR and BLR thus correctly dismissed the petition for cancellation.