RPN V YAP

NATURE: Petition for Review

a. Dismissing Certiorari
b. Denying MR

FACTS:

1. Ps are RPN and its Corporate Officers who were impleaded and charged with indirect contempt.

2. Rs, were employees of RPN and former members of the Radio Philippines Network Employees Union (RPNEU), the
bargaining agent of the rank-and-file employees of the said company.

3. RPN and RPNEU entered into a (CBA) with a union security clause providing that a member who has been
expelled from the union shall also be terminated from the company.

4. A conflict arose between the respondents and other members of RPNEU and the Rs were expelled from the union.

5. RPN notified the respondents that their employment would be terminated.

6. Rs filed with the LA a complaint for illegal dismissal and non-payment of benefits.

 LABOR ARBITER: 

o Ordered the reinstatement of the respondents with payment of backwages and full benefits and without loss
of seniority rights after finding that the petitioners failed to establish the legal basis of the termination of
respondents’ employment.

7. P, reinstated the complainants by way of payroll reinstatement."5

8. Alleging that there was no compliance, Rs filed with the LA a Manifestation and Urgent Motion to Cite for Contempt

9. Rs narrated that they went to RPN to present themselves for actual reinstatement to their former positions but RPN
GM Linao informed them:

a. that they had been reinstated, but only in the payroll, and that the company would endeavour to pay their
salaries regularly despite its precarious financial condition.

b. 4 days later, the respondents returned to RPN to collect their salaries, it being a payday; but they were
barred entry.

c. Rs returned in the afternoon but were likewise stopped by eight (8) guards.

d. Rs tried to push their way in, but the guards manhandled them, pulled them by the hair and arms and
pushed them back to the street.

e. Later that afternoon, the Rs somehow managed to enter the RPN lobby. It was AGM for Finance Barrameda
who came out, but instead of meeting them, Barrameda ordered the guards to take them back outside the
gate, where she said they would be paid their salaries.

10. The Rs prayed that the LA issued an order

a. charging Concio and Linao liable for contempt after hearing;

b. that the respondents be reinstated with full benefits, or in case of payroll reinstatement, that they be paid
every 15th and 30th of the month as with all regular employees;

c. that their salaries shall be paid at the Cashier’s Office, and finally,

d. that the respondents shall not be prevented from entering the premises of RPN.8
 RPN V YAP

11. Rs filed a Motion for the Issuance of Writ of Execution/Garnishment,9alleging that in addition to the violent events,
they were again forcibly denied entry into RPN to collect their 13th month. They prayed that a writ of
execution/garnishment be issued in order to implement the decision of the LA.10

12. Ps denied any liability for the narrated incidents

a. Insisting that the respondents had been duly informed through a letter dated November 10, 2006 of their
payroll reinstatement.

b. The Ps explained that because of the intra-union dispute between the respondents and the union leaders,
they deemed it wise not to allow the respondents inside the company premises to prevent any more
untoward incidents, and to release their salaries only at the gate.

 LABOR ARBITER: cited the petitioners for indirect contempt for "committing disobedience to lawful order

13. NLRC: P filed MR to NLRC but it was Denied

14. P filed a petition for certiorari  with prayer for a TRP and/or WPI

 CA dismissed the petition for failure to attach copies of pertinent pleadings mentioned in the petition,

15. P MR – CA Denied.

ISSUE: W/N RPN’s Corporate Officers are guilty of indirect contempt.

HELD: NO

LAW: In the case of Pioneer Texturizing Corp. v. NLRC,38  an order reinstating a dismissed employee is immediately self-
executory without need of a writ of execution, pursuant to Article 223 of the Labor Code the employee entitled to
reinstatement "shall either be admitted back to work under the same terms and conditions prevailing prior to his
dismissal or separation or, at the option of the employer, merely reinstated in the payroll." Thus, even if the employee
is able and raring to return to work, the option of payroll reinstatement is an exercise of management prerogative.

APP1: The failure of the petitioner to comply with any of the foregoing requirements shall be sufficient ground for the dismissal
of the petition.

Pursuant to the new NLRC Rules of Procedure,

a. the ER is required to submit a report of compliance within ten (10) calendar days from receipt of the LA’s decision,
disobedience to which clearly denotes a refusal to reinstate. The employee need no longer file a motion for issuance
of a writ of execution, since the LA shall thereafter motu proprio  issue the writ

As long as the company’s exercise of judgment is in good faith to advance its interest and not for the purpose of defeating or
circumventing the rights of employees under the laws or valid agreements, such exercise will be upheld

In the case of Maranaw Hotel, it is  recognized that the management’s option to reinstate a dismissed employee in the payroll
is precisely so that the intolerable presence of an unwanted employee in the workplace can be avoided or prevented.

3. Petitioners have substantially complied in good faith with the terms of payroll reinstatement.

The petitioners insist that the respondents were immediately reinstated in compliance with the order of the LA, and their
salaries have since been regularly paid without fail. The petitioners were partly to blame for their recalcitrant demands as to
the place and schedule of payment, and their refusal to cooperate in the opening of their ATM accounts.

4. Petitioners are not guilty of indirect contempt.

Indirect contempt58 refers to contumacious or stubbornly disobedient acts perpetrated outside of the court or tribunal and may
include misbehaviour of an officer of a court in the performance of his official duties or in his official transactions; disobedience
of or resistance to a lawful writ, process, order, judgment, or command of a court, or injunction granted by a court or a judge;
 RPN V YAP

any abuse or any unlawful interference with the process or proceedings of a court not constituting direct contempt; or any
improper conduct tending directly or indirectly to impede, obstruct or degrade the administration of justice.59 

To be considered contemptuous, an act must be clearly contrary to or prohibited by the order of the court or tribunal. A person
cannot, for disobedience, be punished for contempt unless the act which is forbidden or required to be done is  clearly and
exactly defined, so that there can be no reasonable doubt or uncertainty as to what specific act or thing is forbidden or
required.60

The power to punish for contempt should be exercised on the preservative, not on the vindictive, principle. Only occasionally
should a court invoke this inherent power in order to retain that respect, without which the administration of justice will falter or
fail.

Only in cases of clear and contumacious refusal to obey should the power be exercised.

It is not denied that after the order of reinstatement of the respondents, RPN forthwith restored them in its payroll without
diminution of their benefits and privileges, or loss of seniority rights. They retained their entitlement to the benefits under the
CBA. Respondents regularly received their salaries and benefits, notwithstanding that the company has been in financial
straits. Any delays appear to have been due to misunderstandings as to the exact place and time of the fortnightly payments,
or because the respondents were tardy in collecting them from the Bank of Commerce at Broadcast City Branch or from the
NLRC cashier. The petitioners tried proposing opening an ATM accounts for them, but the respondents rejected the idea.

We are convinced under the circumstances that there was no sufficient basis for the charge of indirect contempt against the
petitioners, and that the same was made without due regard for their right to exercise their management prerogatives to
preserve the viability of the company and the harmony of the workplace

CONCLUSION: Hence the RPN Corporate Officers are not guilty of Indirect Contempt.