Facts:
PNOC-EDC, through its officers
Nazario Vasquez,
Marcelino M. Tongco,
Jesus Quevenco, Jr., and
Remegio B. Cornelio, employed
Frederick V. Abella as a probationary Security Assistant at the Southern Negros Geothermal Plant (SNGP), Ticala, Valencia, Negros Oriental, beginning 01 June 1989, and he later became a regular employee. On 20 April 1990 Abella was informed that his employment would be terminated effective 21 May 1990 as part of a company-wide reorganization that allegedly abolished his Security Assistant position, prompting him to file a complaint for illegal dismissal and damages in NLRC RAB VII-05-364-90-D. The Labor Arbiter rendered a decision on 27 August 1991 ordering reinstatement with backwages and awarding damages, and on 20 November 1991 issued an order making reinstatement executory pending appeal; Abella was thereafter placed on the payroll as General Services Assistant (PAL II) and subsequently reslotted as Pipeline Maintenance Foreman while he performed security functions and protested his placement. Abella was temporarily detailed and designated to security assignments at other sites, and on 28 January 1993 he and PNOC-EDC executed a settlement in the earlier case whereby Abella received P124,824.31 and the parties filed a Joint Motion to Dismiss stating that “[a]ll other claims, damages, and causes of action arising out of the instant case are waived,” which the NLRC granted by Resolution dated 22 February 1993 and entered finality on 29 March 1993. Thereafter, disputes over transfers, alleged AWOL and insubordination, and disciplinary notices led Abella to file additional complaints and to seek execution of the 1991 decision; the Labor Arbiter issued a writ of execution in June 1994 and later rendered a consolidated decision on 25 April 1997 that found illegal dismissal but, as a measure of social justice, ordered separation pay; the NLRC on 08 May 1998 reversed the labor arbiter and ordered reinstatement with backwages, but in a 14 June 1999 resolution limited reinstatement because Abella had reached retirement age and adjusted the computation of backwages; the Court of Appeals denied petitioners’ Rule 65 petition and affirmed the NLRC on 30 January 2002, and the petitioners thereafter elevated the case to the Supreme Court by a petition under Rule 45 seeking to set aside the Court of Appeals decision.
Issues:
Was the reinstatement ordered in the Labor Arbiter’s 27 August 1991 decision effectively extinguished by the Joint Motion to Dismiss and settlement approved by the NLRC, such that later claims based on that decision were barred?; Did the Joint Motion to Dismiss operate to dismiss all claims arising from the earlier case and thus preclude further relief by Abella?; Were the transfers and reassignment orders issued by PNOC-EDC reasonable, lawful exercises of managerial prerogative so that Abella’s refusal to obey amounted to insubordination justifying dismissal?
Ruling:
Ratio:
Doctrine: