Case Digest (G.R. No. 57642)
Facts:
Baliwag Transit, Inc. v. Hon. Blas F. Ople, Minister of Labor and Employment, and Romeo Hughes, G.R. No. 57642, March 16, 1989, the Supreme Court First Division, Cruz, J., writing for the Court.Baliwag Transit, Inc. (petitioner) is a corporation authorized to operate an interprovincial bus line; Romeo Hughes (private respondent) was its bus driver from 1966 until the incident in question; Hon. Blas F. Ople, then Minister of Labor and Employment, acted as the public respondent who reviewed the regional labor office decision. On August 10, 1974 Hughes was driving Baliwag Transit Bus No. 1066 when it was struck from the rear by a Philippine National Railways (PNR) train at a railroad crossing in Calumpit, Bulacan; the collision killed eighteen passengers, injured fifty-six others, and extensively damaged the bus. Baliwag Transit paid substantial sums to settle claims of passengers and to repair the bus.
Baliwag Transit sued PNR for damages; on April 6, 1977 Judge Benigno Puno rendered judgment holding PNR liable and absolving Hughes of contributory negligence. Hughes was also criminally prosecuted for multiple homicide and serious physical injuries, but the criminal case was provisionally dismissed on March 19, 1980 for failure of the prosecution witness to appear. After the civil decision against PNR, Hughes renewed his driver’s license and repeatedly sought reinstatement with Baliwag Transit; each request was deferred or ignored. Minister Ople wrote the petitioner on April 24, 1980, urging reinstatement, and Hughes’ counsel demanded reinstatement on May 2, 1980; the petitioner replied on May 10, 1980 refusing reinstatement because Hughes’s license had been revoked and his driving was “extremely dangerous to the riding public.”
Hughes filed a complaint for illegal dismissal with the Ministry of Labor and Employment on July 29, 1980 seeking reinstatement with back wages and emergency cost-of-living allowance. On January 22, 1981 the Director for the National Capital Region dismissed the complaint on prescription grounds, and found Hughes guilty of criminal negligence. On May 21, 1981 Minister Ople reversed the regional director, ordered Hughes reinstated with full back wages and without loss of seniority, and found him not guilty of civil or criminal negligence and that prescription did not apply. Baliwag Transit challenged Minister Ople...(Pro-only)
Issues:
- Did Hughes’s illegal dismissal complaint prescribe or is it barred by laches or abandonment?
- Was Baliwag Transit justified in dismissing Hughes for loss of confidence arising from the August 10, 1974 collision?
- Are the remedial orders of Minister Ople — reinstatement with full back wages and without loss of seniority — proper as to ...(Pro-only)
Ruling:
- (Pro-only)
Ratio:
- (Pro-only)
Doctrine:
- (Pro-only)