Title
Gutierrez vs. Secretary of Labor and Employment
Case
G.R. No. 142248
Decision Date
Dec 16, 2004
Overseas worker Rebecca Gutierrez alleged salary deductions and labor violations by REMPAC. SC ruled in her favor, emphasizing substantial justice over procedural technicalities, remanding case to CA.
carpio morales
rempac placement agency
illegal salary deductions

Case Summary (G.R. No. 142248)

Factual Background

Petitioner applied sometime in February 1995 with REMPAC for employment abroad as a domestic helper. After her application was granted, she departed for Malaysia on June 17, 1995 and returned to the Philippines on August 28, 1997.

After returning, petitioner filed a complaint against REMPAC focused on the illegal deduction from and withholding of her salaries. In her original sworn statement-complaint, petitioner alleged that she paid REMPAC P50,000.00 between June 1995 and June 1996. During the hearing, she clarified that she actually paid only P3,000.00 as processing fee and P1,500.00 for medical examinations, and she explained that the P50,000.00 earlier mentioned referred to the aggregate salary deductions made by her employer in Malaysia.

Petitioner further relied on the Standard Employment Contract for Filipino Household Workers dated April 5, 1995 which she signed. She asserted that the contract entitled her to at least US$200 or its equivalent in Malaysian currency, amounting to MYR540 per month. She stated that her Malaysian employer agreed to pay her MYR580 per month but she received only MYR100 monthly. She claimed that her employer informed her that the MYR480 deduction (computed as MYR580 − MYR480) had been made upon the instruction of Evelina S. Grudo of REMPAC.

POEA Proceedings and Administrative Rulings

REMPAC and SIDDCOR failed to file their respective answers despite receipt of a Show Cause Order dated October 28, 1997 issued by POEA directing them to submit their explanation under oath. POEA Administrator Reynaldo A. Regalado dismissed the complaint for lack of merit by Order dated October 26, 1998.

Petitioner appealed to the Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). The Secretary dismissed the appeal by Order dated January 26, 1999. Petitioner’s Motion for Reconsideration was denied by Order dated July 27, 1999.

Petition for Certiorari before the Court of Appeals

Petitioner then sought certiorari relief in the CA. Before filing, she filed a Special Motion for Extension of Time to File Petition for Certiorari on the premise that she required an additional period. The CA granted the motion by Resolution dated November 11, 1999, giving petitioner a non-extendible period of fifteen (15) days from the lapse of the original reglementary period. Petitioner filed her Petition for Certiorari on October 26, 1999, docketed as CA-G.R. S.P. No. 55585.

The CA dismissed the petition by Resolution dated December 17, 1999 under Section 7 of Rule 43 of the Rules of Court. It found the petition defective because: first, it contained an incomplete statement of material dates, petitioner failing to allege the date she received the January 26, 1999 DOLE Order; second, the verification with certification on non-forum shopping was executed by counsel rather than by petitioner; third, there was no affidavit of service; and fourth, the copies of the January 26, 1999 and July 27, 1999 DOLE Orders were merely photocopies.

Petitioner moved for reconsideration. In that motion and a subsequent supplemental motion, she submitted: a verification and certification on non-forum shopping executed by her; a notarized affidavit of service; and certified true copies of the DOLE orders. By Resolution dated February 21, 2000, the CA denied reconsideration. The CA stated that the copies of the petition submitted did not contain attachments of the duplicate original copies of the questioned DOLE orders. It also held that the statement of material dates remained incomplete because petitioner did not state when she received the order denying her motion for reconsideration. The CA referenced Section 3, Rule 46 of the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure, as corrected by Supreme Court Circular No. 39-98, and Section 4, Rule 65, as amended, emphasizing the mandatory content requirements for petitions for certiorari, including the material dates and the effect of non-compliance.

The CA later resolved to merely note petitioner’s supplemental motion for reconsideration, reasoning that petitioner still failed to comply with the requirements under Sec. 3, Rule 46 or Sec. 4, Rule 65, as amended, and thus the earlier denial of reconsideration stood.

Issues Raised on Review

In her Rule 45 petition, petitioner raised issues centered on whether the CA committed reversible error in dismissing her certiorari petition; whether strict procedural requirements could be relaxed in the interest of substantial justice in a labor case; whether she substantially complied with the procedural requirements of Sec. 3, Rule 46 and Rule 65; whether the CA erred in not giving due course despite alleged merit; and substantive questions on whether REMPAC was liable under Articles 32, 34 (a), (b), (i), and 116 and whether technical rules of evidence applied to overseas worker claims.

Position of Respondents

SIDDCOR countered that the CA dismissal was correct because the CA petition for certiorari had been filed beyond the sixty (60)-day period mandated by Section 4, Rule 65 of the Rules of Court. SIDDCOR argued that petitioner received the Secretary’s decision affirming the POEA order on March 11, 1999, and that after considering the consumption of time by the motion for reconsideration and the denial order, she had a remaining period until September 27, 1999, not until October 26, 1999.

Legal Basis and Reasoning

The Court framed the resolution primarily around the procedural requirements governing petitions for certiorari and the standards for dismissal versus substantial compliance.

First, the Court reiterated that three material dates must be stated in a petition for certiorari under Rule 65: the date of receipt of the judgment or final order or resolution subject of the petition; the date a motion for new trial or reconsideration was filed (if one was filed); and the date of receipt of the notice of denial of such motion. The Court then assessed petitioner’s stated dates. It observed that petitioner had stated that she received the January 26, 1999 DOLE Order on March 11, 1999 and filed her motion for reconsideration on March 19, 1999. It also noted that she stated that she received the July 27, 1999 DOLE Order on August 6, 1999, but the records actually showed that she received it on August 20, 1999.

Second, the Court addressed the CA’s ruling on the certification against forum shopping. The Court recognized the doctrine that while substantial compliance may be tolerated for the statement of material dates when the execution is by an attorney, the rule on forum-shopping certification is different. A certification against forum shopping is treated as a peculiar personal representation of the principal party. For that reason, the Court held that a certification signed by counsel is defective and does not satisfy the requirement, because the principal party is in the best position to know whether another action involving basically the same parties, issues, and causes of action has been filed or is pending.

Nevertheless, the Court looked to whether petitioner’s circumstances justified relief and whether subsequent conduct could amount to substantial compliance. The Court found that the verification and certification of non-forum shopping originally attached to the CA petition had been signed by counsel, Atty. Salvador Hipolito, who claimed that petitioner could not sign because her father had died and was buried on the date the petition was filed. The Court also noted, however, that petitioner later attached a certification of non-forum shopping duly executed by her in her supplemental motion for reconsideration. The Court thus considered this as substantial compliance with the procedural requirement, and it treated petitioner’s explanation as a reasonable cause for the initial failure.

Third, the Court evaluated the CA’s ground regarding the lack of an affidavit of service. It held that the petition filed before the CA had been accompanied by original registry receipts showing that the petition and annexes were served upon the parties, and that petitioner’s supplemental motion for reconsideration was later accompanied by a proper affidavit of service. On that basis, the Court ruled that petitioner complied substantially with the requirement.

Fourth, the Court addressed the CA’s point that the petition was accompanied only by photocopies of the questioned DOLE orders instead of the required duplicate original or certified true copies. The Court discussed the meaning of “duplicate original copy” and “certified true copy” in Administrative Circular 3-96, stating that a certified true copy is the authenticated copy furnished to a party, and that a mere xerox copy does not satisfy the requirement. The Court found that petitioner’s initial attachments were indeed mere photocopies. However, it held that petitioner later submitted, with her supplemental motion for reconsideration, certified true copies of the questioned DOLE orders. The Court treated the subsequent substantial compliance as sufficient, invoking jurisprudence that relaxes procedural rules when a petitioner substantially complies and cures the defect through later submission with the motion for reconsideration. It cited cases where the Court had remanded petitions and condemned a rigid dismissal approach that prioritized technicality over a just determination of disputes, reiterating that rules of procedure are tools designed to expedite resolution, not to defeat justice.

Finally, the Court rejected SIDDCOR’s contention that the CA petition was filed out of time. It held that the certiorari petition was timely filed by recalculating the period from receipt of the DOLE orders and by applying

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