Title
Bautista vs. Eli Lilly Philippines, Inc.
Case
G.R. No. 235865
Decision Date
Feb 3, 2021
Employee dismissed for alleged dishonesty in tire purchase reimbursement; Supreme Court ruled dismissal illegal due to insufficient evidence, awarding backwages and separation pay.
wrongful accusation
illegal dismissal
insufficient evidence

Case Summary (G.R. No. 235865)

Factual Background of the Allegation of Dishonesty

ELPI charged Bautista with violations of company rules and breach of trust and confidence, anchored on a supposed irregularity in reimbursements. ELPI alleged that on May 14, 2008, Bautista simulated the purchase of four tires from BTS and caused reimbursement for the alleged cost. On this basis, ELPI placed Bautista under preventive suspension for 30 days.

In the administrative process, ELPI issued the show-cause letter without disclosing the source of the information it used to accuse Bautista. Bautista questioned this omission in his response and demanded the source of the damaging information. ELPI did not respond immediately with a clear disclosure; it later attached documentary materials—Official Receipt No. 000475, Sales Invoice No. 27274, and Car Repairs Request No. 8911—to its response.

Bautista then submitted a certification dated December 7, 2011 executed by Lilia C. Babila, proprietress of BTS. Lilia certified that she issued Official Receipt No. 000475 on behalf of ELPI for the purchase of four tires.

ELPI confronted Bautista during the formal investigation with a notarized certification dated December 17, 2011 executed by Arnulfo Babila, Lilia’s husband. Arnulfo stated that Bautista did not purchase tires from BTS. A subsequent statement dated December 20, 2011 acknowledged that Arnulfo lacked knowledge of the sale and that it was Lilia who issued the official receipt.

On December 21, 2011, ELPI issued a Notice of Termination to Bautista, and Bautista filed a complaint for illegal dismissal and suspension before the LA.

Labor Arbiter Proceedings and Ruling

The LA rendered its decision on October 1, 2012, dismissing the complaint for lack of merit. The LA held that Bautista was validly dismissed for dishonesty. It also ruled that Bautista’s preventive suspension was valid and found that Bautista received due process. In addition, the LA ordered Bautista to pay his admitted outstanding obligation to ELPI amounting to P24,500.00. The LA’s dispositive portion dismissed the complaint and reinstated Bautista’s admitted financial liability.

NLRC Proceedings: Illegal Dismissal and the Modification of Awards

Bautista appealed to the NLRC. On November 19, 2013, the NLRC granted the appeal, vacated the LA decision, and ruled that Bautista’s suspension and dismissal were illegal. It ordered ELPI to pay salary equivalent to the period of preventive suspension, full backwages from termination until finality of the decision, separation pay computed as one month per year of service, and attorney’s fees amounting to 10% of the total monetary awards. The NLRC also reflected its tentative computations for backwages and separation pay, resulting in a stated total award.

ELPI filed a motion for reconsideration. In a Resolution dated May 30, 2014, the NLRC partly granted the motion. It modified the November 19, 2013 decision by deleting the award pertaining to salary for the preventive suspension, reasoning that Bautista failed to assail the LA’s finding on the illegality of the suspension, which thus had attained finality. The NLRC also reinstated the LA’s ruling directing Bautista to pay ELPI P24,500.00 representing admitted outstanding obligation. Otherwise, the NLRC affirmed the remaining monetary awards.

Court of Appeals Review and Reinstatement of the LA Decision

ELPI later petitioned for certiorari before the CA. The CA granted the petition, set aside the NLRC decision and resolution, and reinstated the LA’s dismissal and related rulings. The CA held that ELPI established the factual basis for loss of trust and confidence arising from Bautista’s alleged dishonesty, and thus Bautista’s dismissal was valid. The CA’s reconsideration denial led to Bautista’s petition before the Supreme Court.

The Core Issue Before the Supreme Court

The issue presented for the Supreme Court’s resolution was whether the CA correctly set aside the NLRC’s decision and resolution and ruled that Bautista’s dismissal was valid.

Legal Framework Applied by the Supreme Court

The Court emphasized that, in petitions for review on certiorari arising from labor cases, the Court was limited to determining whether the CA correctly determined the existence of grave abuse of discretion by the NLRC. The Court explained that even when assessing grave abuse, neither the CA nor the Court is required to weigh the sufficiency of evidence anew; rather, the inquiry is whether the NLRC committed grave abuse such as by violating the Constitution, a law, or existing jurisprudence.

The Court reiterated the governing labor doctrine that the employer has the right to terminate for a just or authorized cause, but dismissal must comply with legal requirements and fair play. In termination disputes, the burden of proof remains on the employer to establish a clear, valid, and legal cause. Where the employer fails to show such a cause, the law treats the dismissal as illegal dismissal.

Assessment of Evidence: Why the Employer’s Case Failed

The Supreme Court found that the NLRC correctly ruled that ELPI failed to prove the legality of Bautista’s dismissal through substantial evidence. It further found that the CA’s approach amounted to correcting factual assessments without establishing grave abuse by the NLRC.

The CA’s view of the evidence supporting ELPI’s theory relied on three main evidentiary points:
First, the Court noted that CA credited an affidavit dated December 18, 2011 executed by Timothy Jerome S. Ong, who claimed Bautista directed him to provide a receipt so Bautista could obtain reimbursement, and that Ong obtained the receipt from BTS and gave it to Bautista.
Second, the CA relied on an affidavit dated December 19, 2011 executed by Sojit Du, who narrated that in 2009, Ong told Du that Bautista directed him to produce a receipt and that if he failed to do so, Bautista would become angry; Du also claimed Ong was afraid during that conversation.
Third, the CA considered ELPI’s documentary evidence but discounted the Official Receipt No. 00475 presented by Bautista for reimbursement because the receipt allegedly bore a BIR permit number issued in 1999, supposedly conflicting with a receipt number and BIR permit number presented by Ong.

By contrast, the NLRC found ELPI’s proof insufficient and placed weight on other circumstances: it treated the official receipt, sales invoice, and Lilia’s certification as showing a genuine sale and recognized the presumptive regularity of the official receipt under Rule 131, Section 3(p) and (q) of the Rules of Court. It also found Ong’s and Du’s affidavits incredible, noting that Bautista was only shown those affidavits and their contents during the submission of ELPI’s position paper. The NLRC highlighted that Bautista’s initial show-cause response period did not include those affidavits and that the timing and circumstances raised credibility concerns, including that the affiants were still ELPI employees when they executed the affidavits. It likewise pointed to procedural and evidentiary irregularities, including ELPI’s failure to initiate administrative proceedings against Ong despite his alleged participation in the purported simulation, the unexplained delay of more than three years in informing ELPI, and the lack of prior misconduct findings against Bautista during his earlier period of employment despite his promotion and reemployment after retrenchment.

The Supreme Court aligned itself with the NLRC. It held that ELPI failed to prove that Bautista simulated the sale and thus failed to establish dishonesty as a just cause for dismissal based on the substantial evidence standard.

Due Process and Timing of Evidence: Post-Submittal Validation

The Court specifically found significant that, at the time ELPI issued the show-cause letter and conducted the administrative proceedings, the affidavits of Ong and Du were not shown to Bautista. The CA and the NLRC both treated this aspect as material, but the Supreme Court concluded that the later appearance of these affidavits supported the NLRC’s conclusion that ELPI sought to validate the termination after the fact.

The Court observed that, when ELPI issued the show-cause letter, Bautista had no knowledge of the source of ELPI’s allegations. Only after Bautista questioned the lack of source did ELPI send copies of Official Receipt No. 000475, Sales Invoice No. 27274, and Car Repairs Request No. 8911. After Bautista submitted Lilia’s certification affirming that she issued the official receipt, ELPI then confronted Bautista with Arnulfo’s certification. The record indicated that ELPI already possessed all relevant documentary materials and Arnulfo’s two contradicting statements during the administrative proceedings, yet ELPI proceeded to decide that Bautista committed dishonesty.

In that setting, the Court found no anomaly in Bautista’s reimbursement claim since the claim was supported by documents and since Lilia’s admission that she issued Official Receipt No. 000475 for the purchase of four tires remained undisputed during the administrative process. It also treated as error the CA’s view that the receipt’s age invalidated the reimbursement claim, holding that the old character of the official receipt did not establish simulation of purchase. One evidence that was supposed to contradict Lilia’s certification—Arnulfo’s earlier statement—was disregarded by both the NLRC and the CA due to inconsistencies between his two statements, and thus Lilia’s position that the tires were purchased and reflected through her receipt was left standing.

Credibility Findings Regarding Ong and Du and Additional Unexplained Circumstances

The Supreme Court agreed with the NLRC that the affidavits of Ong and Du could not be relied upon. The Court reasoned that these affidavits were only made known to Bautista when ELPI submitted its position paper. At the time Bautista was dismissed, ELPI’s charge was that Bautista simulated the purchase. When ELP

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