Dai-Chi vs. Villarama

DAI-CHI ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION vs HON. MARTIN S. VILLARAMA, Presiding Judge RTC Br.
156, Pasig, Metro

Manila, and ADONIS C. LIMJUCO
G.R. No. 112940 | November 21, 1994
FACTS:
On July 29, 1993, Dai-Chi filed a complaint for damages with the Pasig RTC, Br 156, Pasig against Limjuco, a former employee.
Dai-Chi alleged that Limjuco violated paragraph five of their Contract of Employment, which provides:
That for a period of two (2) years after termination of service from EMPLOYER, EMPLOYEE shall not in any manner be connected,
and/or employed, be a consultant and/or be an informative body directly or indirectly, with any business firm, entity or undertaking
engaged in a business similar to or in competition with that of the EMPLOYER.
Dai-Chi claimed that Limjuco became an employee of Angel Sound Philippines Corporation, a corporation engaged in the same line of
business as that of Dai-Chi, within two years from January 30, 1992, the date of Limjuco's resignation.
Dai-Chi further alleged that Limjuco is holding the position of Head of the Material Management Control Department, the same position he
held while in the employ of Dai-Chi.
Dai-Chi sought to recover liquidated damages in the amount of P100,000.00, as expressly provided for in paragraph 7 of the contract.
RTC: ruled that it had no jurisdiction over the subject matter of the controversy because the complaint was for damages arising from employeremployee relations. Citing Article 217(4) of the Labor Code of the Philippines, as amended by R.A. No. 6715, it stated that it is the Labor
Arbiter which had original and exclusive jurisdiction over the subject matter of the case.
In this petition, Dai-Chi asks for the reversal of RTC's dismissal of the civil case, contending that the case is cognizable by the regular courts. It
argues that the cause of action did not arise from employer-employee relations, even though the claim is based on a provision in the
employment contract.
ISSUE: Whether Dai-Chi's claim for damages is one arising from employer-employee relations
RULING/RATIO: NO (Note: I guess Article 224 was still Article 217 at the time this was decided)
Article 217, as amended by Section 9 of R.A. No. 6715, provides as follows:

Jurisdiction of Labor Arbiters and the Commission. (a) Except as otherwise provided under this Code, the Labor Arbiters shall
have original and exclusive jurisdiction to hear and decide, within thirty (30) calendar days after the submission of the case by the
parties for decision without extension, even in the absence of stenographic notes, the following cases involving all workers, whether
agricultural or non-agricultural:
4. Claims for actual, moral, exemplary and other forms of damages arising from the employer-employee relations;
Dai-Chi does not ask for any relief under the Labor Code of the Philippines. It seeks to recover damages agreed upon in the contract as
redress for private Limjuco's breach of his contractual obligation to its "damage and prejudice".
Such cause of action is within the realm of Civil Law, and jurisdiction over the controversy belongs to the regular courts. More so when we
consider that the stipulation refers to the post-employment relations of the parties.
A case in point is Singapore Airlines Limited v. Pao, (1983), which also dealt with the employee's breach of an obligation embodied in a
written employment agreement. Singapore Airlines filed a complaint in the trial court for damages against its employee for "wanton failure and
refusal" without just cause to report to duty and for having "maliciously and with bad faith" violated the terms and conditions of its "Agreement
for a Course of Conversion Training at the Expense of Singapore Airlines Limited." This agreement provided that the employee shall agree to
remain in the service of the employer for a period of five years from the date of the commencement of the training program. The trial court
dismissed the complaint on the grounds that it did not have jurisdiction over the subject matter of the controversy.
It was held in that case that jurisdiction over the controversy belongs to the civil courts. We stated that the action was for breach of a
contractual obligation, which is intrinsically a civil dispute. We further stated that while seemingly the cause of action arose from
employer-employee relations, the employer's claim for damages is grounded on "wanton failure and refusal" without just cause to
report to duty coupled with the averment that the employee "maliciously and with bad faith" violated the terms and conditions of the
contract to the damage of the employer. Such averments removed the controversy from the coverage of the Labor Code and
brought it within the purview of Civil Law.
Jurisprudence has evolved the rule that claims for damages under paragraph 4 of Article 217, to be cognizable by the Labor Arbiter,
must have a reasonable causal connection with any of the claims provided for in that article. Only if there is such a connection with
the other claims can the claim for damages be considered as arising from employer-employee relations.
In San Miguel Corporation v. National Labor Relations Commission, (1988), we construed Article 217 and said that it provided that the Labor
Arbiter had jurisdiction over all money claims of workers, but the phrase "arising from employer-employee relation" was deleted. We ruled
thus:
While paragraph 3 above refers to "all money claims of workers," it is not necessary to suppose that the entire universe of money
claims that might be asserted by workers against their employers has been absorbed into the original and exclusive jurisdiction of
Labor Arbiters. In the first place, paragraph 3 should be read not in isolation from but rather within the context formed by paragraph
1 (relating to unfair labor practices), paragraph 2 (relating to claims concerning terms and conditions of employment), paragraph 4
(claims relating to household services, a particular species of employer-employee relations), and paragraph 5 (relating to certain
activities prohibited to employees or to employers).
It is evident that there is a unifying element which runs through paragraphs 1 to 5 and that is, that they all refer to cases or disputes
arising out of or in connection with an employer-employee relationship. This is, in other words, a situation where the rule of noscitur
a sociis may be usefully invoked in clarifying the scope of paragraph 3, and any other paragraph of Article 217 of the Labor Code.
We reach the above conclusion from an examination of the terms themselves of Article 217, and even though earlier versions of
Article 217 of the Labor Code expressly brought within the jurisdiction of the Labor Arbiters and the NLRC "cases arising from
employer-employee relations," which clause was not expressly carried over, in printer's ink, in Article 217 as it exists today.
For it cannot be presumed that money claims of workers which do not arise out of or in connection with their employer-employee
relationship, and which would therefore fall within the general jurisdiction of regular courts of justice, were intended by the legislative
authority to be taken away from the jurisdiction of the courts and lodged with Labor Arbiters on an exclusive basis. The Court,
therefore, believes and so holds that the "money claims of workers" referred to in paragraph 3 of Article 217 embraces money
claims which arise out of or in connection with the employer-employee relationship or some aspect or incident of some relationship.
Put a little differently, that money claims of workers which now fall within the original and exclusive jurisdiction of Labor Arbiters are
those money claims which have some reasonable causal connection with the employer-employee relationship (Emphasis supplied).
San Miguel was cited in Ocheda v. Court of Appeals, (1992), where we held that when the cause of action is based on a quasi-delict or tort,
which has no reasonable causal connection with any of the claims provided for in Article 217, jurisdiction over the action is with the regular
courts.
We also applied the "reasonable causal connection rule" in Pepsi-Cola Distributors of the Philippines, Inc. v.Gallang, (1991), where we held
that an action filed by employees against an employer for damages for the latter's malicious filing of a criminal complaint for falsification of
private documents against them came under the jurisdiction of the regular courts.
The rationale behind the holdings in these cases is that the complaint for damages was anchored not on the termination of the
employee's services per se, but rather on the manner and consequent effects of such termination.
Cases decided under earlier versions of Article 217 were consistent also in that intrinsically civil disputes, even if these involve an employer
and his employee, are cognizable by the regular courts. In Medina vs. Castro-Bartolome, (1982), a civil complaint for damages against the
employer for slanderous remarks made against them, we upheld the regular court's jurisdiction after finding that the plaintiffs did not allege any
unfair labor practice, their complaint being a simple action for damages for tortious acts allegedly committed by the defendants. In Molave
Sales, Inc. v. Laron, (1984), we held that the claim of the plaintiff against its sales manager for payment of certain accounts and cash
advances was properly cognizable by the regular courts because "although a controversy is between an employer and an employee, the
Labor Arbiters have no jurisdiction if the Labor Code is not involved."
ON THE ISSUE OF FORUM SHOPPING
Limjuco also raises the issue of forum shopping. He asserts that the petition should be dismissed pursuant to Circular No. 28-91 because DaiChi merely "mentioned in passing a labor case between Dai-Chi and Limjuco which is being handled by Dai-Chi's other counsel". Limjuco is
referring to NLRC NCR Case No. 00-11-0689493 filed by him on November 8, 1993.
Dai-Chi asserts that the case before the Labor Arbiter was filed by Limjuco against Dai-Chi for alleged illegal dismissal, underpayment of
wages and non-payment of overtime and premium pay with prayer for moral and exemplary damages, to which Dai-Chi, through its other
counsel, "logically raised as one of its several counterclaims against Limjuco the liquidated damages mentioned in the contract of employment
between the parties"
Dai-Chi did not fail to disclose the pending labor case in the certification required under Circular No. 28-91. Thus, Dai-Chi cannot be
considered to have submitted a false certification warranting summary dismissal of the petition.
Dai-Chi did not commit forum shopping. It set up its counterclaim for liquidated damages merely as a defense against private Limjuco's
complaint before the Labor Arbiter.
ACCORDINGLY, the Orders of the Regional Trial Court dated September 20, 1993 and November 29, 1993 are SET ASIDE. The trial court
is ORDERED to continue with the proceedings in Civil Case No. 63448.

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DAI-CHI ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION vs HON. MARTIN S. VILLARAMA, Presiding Judge RTC Br.

156, Pasig, Metro

Article 217, as amended by Section 9 of R.A. No. 6715, provides as follows:

ON THE ISSUE OF FORUM SHOPPING

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