[G.R. No. 78909. June 30, 1989.

MATERNITY CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL, represented by ANTERA L. DORADO,

President, Petitioner, v. THE HONORABLE SECRETARY OF LABOR AND THE REGIONAL
DIRECTOR OF LABOR, REGION X, Respondents.
Facts:
Petitioner is a semi-government hospital which is partly subsidized by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes
Office. Respondent employees, filed a complaint with the Office of the Regional Director of Labor and
Employment for underpayment of their salaries and ECOLAS (Emergency Cost of Living Allowance)
The regional director sent two labor standard and welfare officers to investigate the claims. The officers
confirmed there were underpayment of wages and ECOLAs of all the employees by the petitioner.
The Regional Director issued an order directing the petitioner to pay. It was modified and affirmed by the
Minister of Labor and Employment.
Petitioner further questions the authority of the Regional Director to award salary differentials and
ECOLAs to private respondents, alleging that the original and exclusive jurisdiction over money claims is
properly lodged in the Labor Arbiter. That those in the reward also include not only employees currently
working but also non-signatories of the complaint as well as those who are no longer employed with
petitioner hospital.
Issue: Whether or not the Regional Director has jurisdiction over the case
Ruling:
Social justice legislation, to be truly meaningful and rewarding to our workers, must not be hampered in
its application by long-winded arbitration and litigation. Rights must be asserted and benefits received
with the least inconvenience. Labor laws are meant to promote, not defeat, social justice.
Labor Standards
Labor standards refer to the minimum requirements prescribed by existing laws, rules, and regulations
relating to wages, hours of work, cost of living allowance and other monetary and welfare benefits,
including occupational, safety, and health standards
Power of the Regional Director to Adjudicate Money Claims
Under the present rules, a Regional Director exercises both visitorial and enforcement power over labor
standards cases, and is therefore empowered to adjudicate money claims, provided there still exists an
employer-employee relationship, and the findings of the regional office is not contested by the employer
concerned.
Adjudicatory powers of the regional director require the existence of employer-employee relationship
The Ministry of Labor and Employment policies as well as E.O 111 reflects the intention enunciated in
Policy Instructions Nos. 6 and 37 to empower the Regional Directors to resolve uncontested money
claims in cases where an employer-employee relationship still exists. This intention must be given weight
and entitled to great respect.
However, there is no legal justification for the award in favor of those employees who were no longer
connected with the hospital at the time the complaint was filed, having resigned therefrom in 1984. The
enforcement power of the Regional Director cannot legally be upheld in cases of separated employees.
Article 129 of the Labor Code, cited by petitioner is not applicable as said article is in aid of the
enforcement power of the Regional Director; hence, not applicable where the employee seeking to be
paid underpayment of wages is already separated from the service. His claim is purely a money claim that
has to be the subject of arbitration proceedings and therefore within the original and exclusive jurisdiction
of the Labor Arbiter.
Visitorial and Enforcement power by the Regional Directors
These two complementary powers to administer and to enforce the law are conferred by the Labor Code
of the Philippines, as amended, on the Secretary of Labor and Employment or his duly authorized
representatives, i. e., the DOLE Regional Directors.
The visitorial grants to said DOLE officials, including labor and employment officers, access to
employer's records and premises at any time of the day or night whenever work is being undertaken
therein, and the right to copy there from such records, to question any employee and investigate any fact,
condition or matter which may be necessary to determine violations or which may aid in the enforcement
of the Labor Code and of any labor law, wage order or rules and regulations issued pursuant thereto (Art.
128 (a).
The enforcement power to issue compliance orders to give effect to the labor standards provisions of the
Labor Code and other labor legislation based on the findings of labor and employment officers or
industrial safety engineers made in the course of inspection, and to issue writs of execution to the
appropriate authority for the enforcement of their orders, except in cases where the employer contests the
findings of the labor and employment officers and raises issues supported by documentary proofs which
were not considered in the course of inspection." (Art. 128 (b).