G.R. No. 82819 February 8, 1989 LUZ LUMANTA, ET AL., Petitioners, National Labor Relations Commission and Food Terminal, Inc., Respondents

G.R. No.
82819 February 8, 1989
LUZ LUMANTA, ET AL., petitioners,

vs.
NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION and FOOD TERMINAL, INC., respondents.
RESOLUTION
FELICIANO, J.:
The present Petition for certiorari seeks to annul and set aside the Decision of the National Labor Relations Commission rendered on 18
March 1988 in NLRC-NCR Case No. 00- 0301035-87, entitled "Luz Lumanta, et al., versus Food Terminal Incorporated." The Decision
affirmed an order of the Labor Arbiter dated 31 August 1987 dismissing petitioners' complaint for lack of Jurisdiction.
On 20 March 1987, petitioner Luz Lumanta, joined by fifty-four (54) other retrenched employees, filed a complaint for unpaid 'd
retrenchment or separation pay against private respondent Food Terminal, Inc. ("FTI") with the Department of Labor and Employment.
The complaint was later amended to include charges of underpayment of wages and non-payment of emergency cost of living allowances
(ECOLA).
Private respondent FTI moved to dismiss the complaint on the ground of lack of jurisdiction. It argued that being a government-owned
and controlled corporation, its employees are governed by the Civil Service Law not by the Labor Code, and that claims arising from
employment fall within the jurisdiction of the Civil Service Commission and not the Department of Labor and Employment.
The petitioners opposed the Motion to Dismiss contending that although FTI is a corporation owned and controlled by the government, it
has still the marks of a private corporation: it directly hires its employees without seeking approval from the Civil Service Commission
and its personnel are covered by the Social Security System and not the Government Service Insurance System. Petitioners also argued
that being a government-owned and controlled corporation without original charter, private respondent FTl clearly falls outside the scope
of the civil service as marked out in Section 2 (1), Article IX of the 1987 Constitution.
On 31 August 1987, Labor Arbiter Isabel P. Oritiguerra issued an Order, 1 the dispositive part of which read:
On account of the above findings the instant case is governed by the Civil Service Law. The case at bar lies outside the
jurisdictional competence of this Office.
WHEREFORE, premises considered this case is hereby directed to be DISMISSED for lack of jurisdiction of this Office
to hear and decide the case.
SO ORDERED.
On 18 March 1988, the public respondent National Labor Relations Commission affirmed on appeal the order of the Labor Arbiter and
dismissed the petitioners' appeal for lack of merit.
Hence this Petition for Certiorari.
The only question raised in the present Petition is whether or not a labor law claim against a government-owned and controlled
corporation, such as private respondent FTI, falls within the jurisdiction of the Department of Labor and Employment.
In refusing to take cognizance of petitioners' complaint against private respondent, the Labor Arbiter and the National Labor Relations
Commission relied chiefly on this Court's ruling in National Housing Authority v. Juco, 2which held that "there should no longer be any
question at this time that employees of government-owned or controlled corporations are governed by the civil service law and civil service
rules and regulations.
Juco was decided under the 1973 Constitution, Article II-B, Section 1 (1) of which provided:
The civil service embraces every branch, agency, subdivision, and instrumentality of the Government, including every
government-owned or controlled corporation.
The 1987 Constitution which took effect on 2 February 1987, has on this point a notably different provision which reads:
The civil service embraces all branches, subdivisions, instrumentalities, and agencies of the Government, including
government-owned or controlled corporations with original charter. (Article IX-B, Section 2 [1]).
The Court, in National Service Corporation (NASECO) v. National Labor Relations Commission, G.R. No. 69870, promulgated on 29
November 1988, 3 quoting extensively from the deliberations 4 of the 1986 Constitutional Commission in respect of the intent and
meaning of the new phrase "with original charter," in effect held that government-owned and controlled corporations with original
charter refer to corporations chartered by special law as distinguished from corporations organized under our general incorporation
statute-the Corporation Code. In NASECO, the company involved had been organized under the general incorporation statute and was a
subsidiary of the National Investment Development Corporation (NIDC) which in turn was a subsidiary of the Philippine National Bank, a
bank chartered by a special statute. Thus, government-owned or controlled corporations like NASECO are effectively excluded from the
scope of the Civil Service.
It is the 1987 Constitution, and not the case law embodied in Juco, 5 which applies in the case at bar, under the principle that
jurisdiction is determined as of the time of the filing of the complaint. 6 At the time the complaint against private respondent FTI was filed
(i.e., 20 March 1987), and at the time the decisions of the respondent Labor Arbiter and National Labor Relations Commission were
rendered (i.e., 31 August 1987 and 18 March 1988, respectively), the 1987 Constitution had already come into effect. latter of Instruction
No. 1013, dated 19 April 1980, included Food Terminal, Inc. in the category of "government-owned or controlled corporations." 7 Since
then, FTI served as the marketing arm of the National Grains Authority (now known as the National Food Authority). The pleadings show
that FTI was previously a privately owned enterprise, created and organized under the general incorporation law, with the corporate name
"Greater Manila Food Terminal Market, Inc." 8 The record does not indicate the precise amount of the capital stock of FM that is owned by
the government; the petitioners' claim, and this has not been disputed, that FTl is not hundred percent (100%) government-owned and
that it has some private shareholders.
We conclude that because respondent FTI is government-owned and controlled corporation without original charter, it is the Department
of Labor and Employment, and not the Civil Service Commission, which has jurisdiction over the dispute arising from employment of the
petitioners with private respondent FTI, and that consequently, the terms and conditions of such employment are governed by the Labor
Code and not by the Civil Service Rules and Regulations.
Public respondent National Labor Relations Commission acted without or in excess of its jurisdiction in dismissing petitioners complaint.
ACCORDINGLY, the Petition for certiorari is hereby GRANTED and the Decision of public respondent Labor Arbiter dated 31 August 1987
and the Decision of public respondent Commission dated 18 March 1988, both in NLRC-NCR Case No. 00-03-01035-87 are hereby SET
ASIDE. The case is hereby REMANDED to the Labor Arbiter for further appropriate proceedings.
Fernan, C.J., Gutierrez, Jr., Bidin, and Cortes, JJ., concur.

G.R. No. 82819 February 8, 1989 LUZ LUMANTA, ET AL., Petitioners, National Labor Relations Commission and Food Terminal, Inc., Respondents

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G.R. No. 82819 February 8, 1989 LUZ LUMANTA, ET AL., Petitioners, National Labor Relations Commission and Food Terminal, Inc., Respondents

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G.R. No.

82819 February 8, 1989

LUZ LUMANTA, ET AL., petitioners,

Hence this Petition for Certiorari.

Fernan, C.J., Gutierrez, Jr., Bidin, and Cortes, JJ., concur.

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