Republic of the Philippines
SUPREME COURT
Manila
EN BANC
G.R. No. L-16440 February 29, 1964
PHILIPPINES ENGINEERS' SYNDICATE, INC., petitioner,
vs.
HON. JOSE S. BAUTISTA, ARSENIO I. MARTINEZ, BALTAZAR M. VILLANUEVA,
EMILIO C. TABIGNE and AMADO C. BUGAYONG, Presiding Judge and Associate Judges respectively of the Court of Industrial Relations; FEDERICO BENITEZ, DEWEY BAYING, ANDRES ULAS, DELFIN GALASGAS, QUEZON BASORA, ET AL., respondents.
Gil R. Carlos and Associates for petitioner.
Benjamin C. Rillera for respondents Federico Benitez et al.
BENGZON, C.J.:
This is a special civil action to prevent the Court of Industrial Relations from assuming jurisdiction of a suit for additional compensation for night work.
It appears that on December 28, 1958, respondent Federico Benitez together with sixty four (64) other employees of petitioner, a domestic corporation engaged in the construction business, lodged a complaint with respondent court (Case No. 12-V Pang.), alleging that they had been employed by the firm in various capacities; that they had rendered nighttime service during certain periods at various rates per hour; that for jobs of similar nature and category, petitioner only paid them wages equivalent to those of workers on the day shift, without any extra compensation for night work; that for such night work, they were entitled to additional compensation of fifty per centum (50%); and that to prosecute their claim, they were forced to hire counsel for an agreed fee of ten percent (10%) of such claim. The complaint attached a schedule of their names, badge numbers, rates of pay, number of days, total daytime compensation actually received and the expected 50% differential increment pay.
On January 22, 1959, petitioner moved to dismiss the complaint, asserting mainly that respondent court had jurisdiction over the subject matter; other grounds cited were that another action was pending between the said parties before Regional Office No. 1 (RO1-W No. 404) for identical cause; and that the workers' demands had be duly met.1äwphï1.ñët
On August 18, 1959, the Presiding Judge below ruled that his court was competent to pass upon the complaint; he deferred resolution of the other grounds for dismissal and directed petitioner to answer the complaint within five days from receipt of his order. Upon denial of the motion for reconsideration of such ruling by the Court en banc petitioner filed the instant petition.
Only one issue is raised: whether or not upon the enactment of Republic Act 875, the CIR lost its jurisdiction over claims for additional compensation for regular night work. Petitioner says that this Act reduced the jurisdiction of respondent court and limited it to specific cases which this Court has defined as: "... (1) when the labor dispute affects an industry which is indispensable to the national interest and is so certified by the President to the industrial court (Sec. 10, Republic Act 875); (2) when the controversy refers to minimum wage under the Minimum Wage Law (Republic Act 602); (3) when it involves hours of employment under the Eight-Hour Labor Law (Common wealth Act 444); and (4) when it involves an unfair labor practice [Sec. 5 (a), Republic Act 875]".1
Petitioner insists that respondents' case falls in none these categories because as held in two previous cases, night work is not overtime but regular work; and that respondent court's authority to try the case cannot be implied from its "general jurisdiction and broad powers" and Commonwealth Act 103 because Republic Act 875 precisely curbed such powers limiting them to certain specific litigations, beyond which it is not permitted to act.
We believe petitioner to be in error. Its position collides with our ruling in the Naric case2 where we held:
While it is true that this Court made the above comment in the aforementioned case, it does not intend to convey the idea that work done at night cannot also be an overtime work. The comment only served to emphasize that the demand which the Shell Company made upon its laborers is not merely an overtime work but night work and so there was need to differentiate night work from daytime work. In fact, the company contended that there was no law that required the payment of additional compensation for night work unlike an overtime work which is covered by Commonwealth Act No. 444 (Eight-Hour Labor Law). And this Court in that case said that while there was no law actually requiring payment of additional compensation for night work, the industrial court has the power to determine the wages that night workers should receive under Commonwealth Act No. 103, and so it justified the additional compensation in the Shell case for "hygienic, medical, moral, cultural and sociological reasons."
Apropos the issue of jurisdiction, this Court in the same Shell case spoke in this fashion:
La question que, a nuestro juicio se debe determinar es si entre las facultades generales de la Corte Relaciones Industriales que estan admitidas sin disputa, esta la de considerar la jornada de noche como una jornada completa de trabajo; la de estimarla como mas gravosa que la jornada the dia; y consiguientemente la de proveer y ordenar que se remunere con un 50% mas de los salaries regulares diurnos. Nuestra contestacion es afirmativa: todo esto se halla comprendido entre los poderes generales de la Corte de Relaciones Industriales. Si este tribunal tiene en casos de disputa el poder de fijar los salarios que estime justos y razonables para el trabajo de dia, no hay razon por que no ha de tener el mismo poder con respecto a los salarios de noche: es tan trabajo lo uno como lo otro ... .3
True, in PAFLU, et al. vs. Tan, et al., supra, and in a series of cases thereafter, we held that the broad powers conferred by Commonwealth Act 103 on the CIR have been curtailed by Republic Act 875 which limited them to the four categories therein expressed, in line with the public policy of allowing settlement of industrial disputes via the collective bargaining process; but we find no cogent reason for concluding that a suit of this nature — for extra compensation for night work falls outside the domain of industrial court withal, the record does not show that employer-employee relation between the 65 respondents the petitioner had ceased.
After the passage of Republic Act 875, this Court not only upheld the industrial courts assumption of jurisdiction over cases for salary differentials and overtime pay4 or for payment of additional compensation for rendered on Sundays and holidays and for night work5 but has also supported such court ruling that work at night should be paid more than work done at daytime, and that if that work is done beyond the worker's regular hours of duty, he should also be paid additional compensation for overtime work.6 Beside's to hold that this case for extra compensation now falls beyond the powers of industrial court to decide, would amount to a further curtailment of the jurisdiction of said court to an extent which may defeat the purpose Magna Carta to the prejudice of labor.7
WHEREFORE, the contested order of August 18, 1959 and the resolution en banc of October 13, 1959, are affirmed; the instant petition is dismissed at petitioner cost.
Bautista Angelo, Labrador, Concepcion, Reyes, J.B.L. Barrera, Paredes, Dizon and Regala, JJ., concur.
Padilla and Makalintal, JJ., took no part.
Footnotes
1Paflu, et al. vs. Tan, et al., 52 Off. Gaz. No. 13, 5836.
2National Rice & Corn Corp. (NARIC) vs. NARIC Workers Union, et al., G.R. No. L-12075, May 29, 1959.
3Shell Co. contra National Labor Union, ibid at 325-326.
4Court I Chua Workers Union (NLU) vs. City Automotive Co., al., G.R. No. L-11655, April 29, 1959; Prisco vs. CIR, et al., G. No. L-13806, May 23, 1960.
5Nassco vs. Abuin, et al., G.R. No. L-9055, Nov. 28, 19 Detective & Protective Bureau, Inc. vs. Felipe Guevara, et G.R. No. L-8738, May 31, 1957. 6 Naric vs.
6Naric Workers Union, et al, G.R. No. L-120 May 29, 1959, citing Shell Co. vs. National Labor Union, Phil. 315.
7Luis Recato Dy, et al. vs. CIR, G.R. Ne. L-17788, May 25, 1962.
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