Philippine Supreme Court Decisions Digests

Manager’s Guide - Philippine Jurisprudence on Illegal Dismissal Managers are also employees. When they are subjected to unfair labor practices or denied of their basic rights, they can seek redress before the labor tribunals. While Labor Laws are generally designed to protect the most vulnerable sectors of the working class that is the rank-and-file etc., it does not follow that managerial employees are without rights arising from labor laws. Philippine Jurisprudence has promulgated number of cases on this regard. The Supreme Court in the case of MARILYN T. SAGUM vs. INSTITUTE OF INTEGRATED ELECTRICAL ENGINEERS OF THE PHILIPPINES, INC. (GR No. 158759, May 26, 2005) ruled on the the Security of Tenure for all Regular Employees citing the following provisions: Article 279 of the Labor Code provides the law on reinstatement, viz.: Article 279. Security of Tenure . - In cases of regular employment, the employer shall not terminate the services of an employee except for a just...

EDUARDO MANUEL vs. PEOPLE GR. No. 165842, November 29, 2005    Facts This case is a petition for review on certiorari of the decision of Court of Appeals affirming the decision of the Regional Trial Court of Baguio City, convicting the petitioner for the crime of bigamy.    Eduardo P. Manuel, herein petitioner, was first married to Rubylus Gaña on July 18, 1975, who, according to the former, was charged with estafa in 1975 and thereafter imprisoned and was never seen again by him after his last visit. Manuel met Tina B. Gandalera in January 1996 when the latter was only 21 years old. Three months after their meeting, the two got married through a civil wedding in BaguioCity without Gandalera‘s knowledge of Manuel‘s first marriage. In the course of their marriage, things got rocky and Gandalera learned that Eduardo was in fact already married when he married him. She then filed a criminal case of bigamy against Eduardo Manuel. The latter‘s defense being that his decla...

HOTEL NIKKO vs. REYES GR. No. 154259, February 28, 2005    Facts This case is a petition for review on certiorari regarding the reversing decision of the Court of Appeals in the decision of the Trial Court and thus, making the petitioners liable for damages through the abusive conduct of petitioner Lim, imposing upon them P200,000 as exemplary damages, P200,000 as moral damages, and P10,000 as attorney‘s fees.    Plaintiff Roberto Reyes (Amay Bisaya) was having coffee at the Nikko Hotel lobby on October 13, 1994 at around six in the morning when Dr. Violeta Filart, a long-time friend, approached him and invited him to a party at the penthouse where the hotel‘s former manager‘s birthday was being celebrated. He consented and carried the latter‘s present. At the party, when he was helping himself at the buffet table, Ruby Lim, one of the petitioners, approached him and asked him to leave in a loud voice enough to be heard by those around the buffet table. Then, a Makat...

EQUITABLE BANKING CORPORATION vs. CALDERON GR. No. 156168, December 14, 2004  Facts Jose T. Calderon is a businessman engaged in several business activities here and abroad, either in his capacity as President or Chairman of the Board thereon. He is also a stockholder of PLDT and a member of the Manila Polo Club, among others.  He is a seasoned traveler, who travels at least seven times a year in the U.S., Europe and Asia. On the other hand, Equitable Banking Corporation is one of the leading commercial banking institutions in the Philippines, engaged in commercial banking, such as acceptance of deposits, extension of loans and credit card facilities, among others.Sometime in September 1984, Calderon applied and was issued an Equitable International Visa card. The said Visa card can be used for both peso and dollar transactions within and outside the Philippines.   The credit limit for the peso transaction is twenty thousand pesos; while in the dollar ...

CUSTODIO vs. COURT OF APPEALS G.R. No. 116100, February 9, 1996  Facts Respondents owned a parcel of land wherein a two-door apartment was erected. Said property was surrounded by other immovables owned by petitioners, spouses Custodio and spouses Santos. As an access to P. Burgos Street from the subject property, there are two possible passageways. The first passageway is approximately one meter wide and is about 20 meters distant from Mabasa‘s residence to P. Burgos Street. Such path is passing in between the previously mentioned row of houses. The second passageway is about 3 meters in width and length from plaintiff Mabasa‘s residence to P. Burgos Street; it is about 26 meters. In passing thru said passageway, a less than a meter wide path through the septic tank and with 5-6 meters in length, has to be traversed. Petitioners constructed an adobe fence in the first passageway making it narrower in width. Said adobe fence was first constructed by defendants Santoses a...

ALFONSO T. YUCHENGCO vs. THE MANILA CHRONICLE PUBLISHING CORPORATION G.R. No. 184315, November 25, 2009  Facts In his Complaint, plaintiff Alfonso T. Yuchengco alleges that in the last quarter of 1994, Chronicle Publishing Corporation ("Chronicle Publishing" for brevity) published in the Manila Chronicle a series of defamatory articles against him. In two of the subject articles (November 10 and 12, 1993 issues), he was imputed to be a "Marcos crony" or a "Marcos-Romualdez crony," which term according to him is commonly used and understood in Philippine media to describe an individual who was a recipient of special and underserving favors from former President Ferdinand E. Marcos and/or his brother-in-law Benjamin "Kokoy" Romualdez due to special and extraordinary closeness to either or both, and which favors allowed an individual to engage in illegal and dishonorable business activities.  The subject articles insinuated that he pe...

TITUS B. VILLANUEVA vs. EMMA M. ROSQUETA G.R. No. 180764, January 19, 2010  Facts Respondent Emma M. Rosqueta (Rosqueta), formerly Deputy Commissioner of the Revenue Collection and Monitoring Group of the Bureau of Customs (the Bureau), tendered her courtesy resignation from that post on January 23, 2001, shortly after President Gloria MacapagalArroyo assumed office. But five months later on June 5, 2001, she withdrew her resignation, claiming that she enjoyed security of tenure and that she had resigned against her will on orders of her superior.   Meantime, on July 13, 2001 President Arroyo appointed Gil Valera (Valera) to respondent Rosqueta‘s position. Challenging such appointment, Rosqueta filed a petition for prohibition, quo warranto, and injunction against petitioner Titus B. Villanueva (Villanueva), then Commissioner of Customs, the Secretary of Finance, and Valera with the Regional Trial Court. Petitioner Villanueva, Valera, and the Secretary of F...