FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. No. 237518. April 10, 2019.]
DIOSDADO R. DOLENDO, JR., petitioner, vs.BIG POST CONSTRUCTION AND STEEL FABRICATION, ET AL., respondents.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution dated April 10, 2019which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 237518 — DIOSDADO R. DOLENDO, JR., petitioner, vs. BIG POST CONSTRUCTION AND STEEL FABRICATION, ET AL., respondents. — Acting on the petition for review on certiorari, the Court resolves to DENY the same for failure of the petitioner to establish error on the part of the Court of Appeals (CA).
The Court notes that both the CA and the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) found that the respondents are not guilty of illegal dismissal. We find no reason to disturb their findings considering that the petitioner's claim of illegal termination had no evidentiary support. It is settled rule that before the employer bears the burden of proving that the dismissal was legal, the employee must first establish by substantial evidence the fact of his dismissal from service. 1
However, we find it proper to modify the decision of the CA for it failed to delete the award for 13th month pay and the monetary equivalent of the petitioner's service incentive leave from the decision of the Labor Arbiter. In Radar Security & Watchman Agency, Inc. v. Castro, 2 the Court categorically stated that: "[i]n labor cases, where there is neither termination nor abandonment involved, there is no occasion to grant separation pay and backwages, nor to allow collection of any other monetary claims absent evidence to substantiate the same. The employer and the employee do not have any obligation one to the other." 3
A plain reading of the Labor Arbiter's decision reveals that the 13th month pay and the award for service incentive leave were anchored on his finding of illegal dismissal. There was neither factual determination nor evidence to establish the petitioner's entitlement to these claims. Hence, the same should be deleted.
WHEREFORE, We DENY the petition for being unmeritorious; AFFIRM WITH MODIFICATION the September 22, 2017 decision and February 7, 2018 resolution promulgated by the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 148137; and DELETE the award for 13th month pay and service incentive leave contained in the March 31, 2016 decision of the Labor Arbiter in NLRC CASE No. RAB-IV-08-01063-15-C. CAIHTE
SO ORDERED." Del Castillo, J., on official business. Jardeleza, J., on official leave.
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) LIBRADA C. BUENADivision Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.MZR Industries v. Colambot, G.R. No. 179001, August 28, 2013, 704 SCRA 150, 157.
2. G.R. No. 211210, December 2, 2015, 776 SCRA 71.
3.Id. at 84.