Building Care Corporation/Leopard Security & Investigation Agency And/Or Ruperto Protacio Vs. Myrna Macaraeg G.R. No. 198357. December 10, 2012

Building Care Corporation/Leopard Security & Investigation Agency And/Or Ruperto Protacio Vs. Myrna Macaraeg G.R. No. 198357. December 10, 2012

Peralta

https://elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocs/1/55394

On May 13, 2009, the Labor Arbiter rendered a Decision, the dispositive portion of which reads as follows:

WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby made dismissing the charge of illegal dismissal as wanting in merit but, as explained above, ordering the Respondents Leopard Security and Investigation Agency and Rupert Protacio to pay complainant a financial assistance in the amount of P5,000.00.

Issues
Hence, the present petition, where the main issue for resolution is whether the CA erred in liberally applying the rules of procedure and ruling that respondent's appeal should be allowed and resolved on the merits despite having been filed out of time.

To be sure, the relaxation of procedural rules cannot be made without any valid reasons proffered for or underpinning it. To merit liberality, petitioner must show reasonable cause justifying its non-compliance with the rules and must convince the Court that the outright dismissal of the petition would defeat the administration of substantial justice.

The Court will not override the finality and immutability of a judgment based only on the negligence of a party’s counsel in timely taking all the proper recourses from the judgment. To justify an override, the counsel’s negligence must not only be gross but must also be shown to have deprived the party the right to due process.

Decisions
IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, the Petition is GRANTED. The Decision of the Court of Appeals dated March 24, 2011, and its Resolution dated August 19, 2011 in CA-G.R. SP No. 114822 are hereby SET ASIDE, and the Decision of the National Labor Relations Commission in NLRC-LAC No. 07-001892-09 (NLRC Case No. NCR-09-12628-08), ruling that the Decision of the Labor Arbiter has become final and executory, is REINSTATED.