FIRST DIVISION
[G.R. No. 235366. April 18, 2018.]
MERALCO INDUSTRIAL ENGINEERING SERVICES CORPORATION [MIESCOR] AND ANGELITO D. BERMUDO, petitioners, vs.SIMEON J. JAVIER, respondent.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, First Division, issued a Resolution datedApril 18, 2018which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 235366 — Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corporation [MIESCOR] and Angelito D. Bermudo v. Simeon J. Javier
The Court hereby resolves to GRANT the Motion for Extension of Time filed by petitioners seeking an additional period of 30 days from the expiration of the reglementary period within which to file the Petition for Review on Certiorari.
Considering the allegations, issues, and arguments adduced in the instant Petition for Review on Certiorari of the July 4, 2017 Decision and October 20, 2017 Resolution of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 146357, the Court resolves to DENY the Petition for failure to show that the CA committed any reversible error in issuing the said assailed Decision and Resolution as to warrant the exercise of this Court's discretionary appellate jurisdiction. CAacTH
The Court finds no cogent reason to depart from the findings of the CA that respondent has already attained the status of a regular employee of petitioner Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corporation (MIESCOR) after having been continuously employed for 12 years. In Omni Hauling Services, Inc. v. Bon, 1 the principal test for determining whether particular employees are properly characterized as "project employees" as distinguished from "regular employees" is whether or not the employees were assigned to carry out a "specific project or undertaking," the duration (and scope) of which were specified at the time they were engaged for that project. As aptly held by the CA, no proof was adduced to show that respondent knowingly agreed to an employment status as a project employee at the time he was engaged. The CA is correct in observing that, contrary to the labor tribunals' findings, there was no evidence showing that respondent signed an employment contract at the onset of his employment in 2003 explicitly stating that he was going to be hired for a specific project. There was also no evidentiary proof that respondent was duly apprised of the project-based nature of his employment. Petitioners' submission of an Employment Agreement executed on December 19, 2008 hiring respondent as Expediter from January 2, 2009 to March 31, 2009 to prove that he was engaged as a project employee did not help substantiate petitioners' claim as the original employment contract executed in 2003 was not submitted. As respondent was not clearly informed of his employment status as a project employee, with the duration and scope of the project specified at the time he was engaged, the presumption of regular employment should be accorded in his favor. 2
Having gained regular status, respondent could only be dismissed for just or authorized causes. Petitioners, however, failed to establish the validity of respondent's dismissal. We, thus, affirm the CA's award of full backwages and reinstatement or separation pay, in lieu of reinstatement, plus 6% interest in favor of respondent. cEaSHC
We modify, however, the CA's ruling on the extent of liability of MIESCOR and its co-petitioner Angelito D. Bermudo. A corporation, as a juridical entity, may act only through its directors, officers and employees. Obligations incurred as a result of the directors' and officers' acts as corporate agents, are not their personal liability but the direct responsibility of the corporation they represent. As a rule, they are only solidarily liable with the corporation for the illegal termination of services of employees if they acted with malice or bad faith. 3 In the present case, there was no indication that respondent's dismissal was effected with malice or bad faith on the part of petitioner Angelito D. Bermudo as a corporate officer to justify a ruling holding him solidarily liable with MIESCOR.
ACCORDINGLY, the Court resolves to AFFIRM the assailed July 4, 2017 Decision and October 20, 2017 Resolution of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 146357 with MODIFICATION in that petitioner Angelito D. Bermudo is not solidarily liable with petitioner Meralco Industrial Engineering Services Corporation for illegally terminating respondent Simeon J. Javier.
Petitioners' counsel is directed to submit within five days from notice hereof an updated and current Professional Tax Receipt Number (PTR).
SO ORDERED." (Sereno, C.J., on leave; De Castro, J., designated as Acting Chairperson of the First Division per Special Order No. 2540 dated February 28, 2018; Jardeleza, J., took no part; Reyes, Jr., J, designated additional member per Raffle dated March 7, 2018).
Very truly yours,
(SGD.) LIBRADA C. BUENADeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1. 742 Phil. 335, 344 (2014).
2.Id. at 346.
3.Grandteq Industrial Steel Products, Inc. v. Estrella, 661 Phil. 735, 747-748 (2011).