G.R. No. 164205 ; September 3, 2009
OLDARICO S. TRAVEÑO, ET AL., Petitioners, vs. BOBONGON BANANA GROWERS MULTI-PURPOSE COOPERATIVE, TIMOG AGRICULTURAL CORPORATION, DIAMOND FARMS, INC., and DOLE ASIA PHILIPPINES, Respondents.

FACTS

Petitioners were workers on a banana plantation in Davao Del Norte. They alleged that respondents Timog Agricultural Corporation (TACOR) and Diamond Farms, Inc. (DFI) hired and directly supervised them, but used various schemes—including contracting through individuals and eventually through respondent Bobongon Banana Growers Multi-Purpose Cooperative—to disguise the employment relationship. In 2000, they claimed harassment tactics, a unilateral shift to a pakyawan wage system, and eventual non-payment of wages forced them to stop working. They filed complaints for illegal dismissal and monetary claims against the Cooperative, TACOR, DFI, and Dole Asia Philippines.
The Labor Arbiter ruled that the Cooperative was the sole employer, illegally dismissing petitioners, and dropped the complaints against TACOR, DFI, and Dole Asia. This finding heavily relied on final Orders from the Department of Labor and Employment in a prior case, which declared the Cooperative as the employer of the plantation workers. The NLRC affirmed this, adding awards for unpaid wages and benefits. The Court of Appeals dismissed petitioners’ subsequent appeal on a technicality—a defective verification and certification against forum shopping.

ISSUE

Whether the Court of Appeals erred in dismissing the petition on a technicality and, substantively, whether TACOR, DFI, and Dole Asia should be held jointly and severally liable with the Cooperative as petitioners’ employers.

RULING

The Supreme Court denied the petition. On procedural grounds, the Court upheld the appellate court’s dismissal. The rule on verification and certification against forum shopping is mandatory, and non-compliance is a valid cause for dismissal. The certification signed by only 19 of 22 petitioners was substantially defective, as it did not assure the court of the petition’s truthfulness from all parties.
On the substantive issue, the Court affirmed that the Cooperative was the sole employer. The conclusive factor was the existence of final and executory DOLE Orders from a prior case, which had already definitively declared the Cooperative as the employer of the workers on the subject plantation. These unappealed Orders constitute res judicata, barring re-litigation of the same issue of employer identity. Petitioners failed to present clear evidence of a joint venture or any direct employer-employee relationship with the corporate respondents that would justify piercing the Cooperative’s separate juridical personality. The fact that TACOR and DFI provided capital, technical assistance, and bought the produce under a growership agreement with landowners does not, by itself, establish an employment relationship with the farm workers. Liability cannot be imposed on the corporate respondents based merely on their being a “going concern” without legal and factual basis.