SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 235429. January 24, 2018.]
NEW CORELLA LABOR SERVICE COOPERATIVE, REPRESENTED BY ITS PRESIDENT, CRISTUTO PADILLA, petitioner,vs. PSC-DIVERSIFIED FRUIT, INC. AND NEW CORELLA LABOR SERVICE COOPERATIVE EMPLOYEES UNION-PFL, REPRESENTED BY ROLANDO P. DAPAR, IN HIS CAPACITY AS SECRETARY GENERAL, respondents.
NOTICE
Sirs/Mesdames :
Please take notice that the Court, Second Division, issued a Resolution dated 24 January 2018 which reads as follows:
"G.R. No. 235429 (New Corella Labor Service Cooperative, represented by its President, Cristuto Padilla v. PSC-Diversified Fruit, Inc. and New Corella Labor Service Cooperative Employees Union-PFL, represented by Rolando P. Dapar, in his capacity as Secretary General)
After a judicious study of the case, the Court resolves to DENY the instant petition and AFFIRM the March 23, 2017 Decision 1 and October 6, 2017 Resolution 2 of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 06606-MIN for failure of petitioner New Corella Labor Service Cooperative, represented by its President, Cristuto Padilla (petitioner), to sufficiently show that the CA committed any reversible error in holding that workers who resigned as members of the cooperative may exercise their right to form and join unions in order to collectively bargain against their cooperative employer.
As correctly ruled by the CA, petitioner's former member-employees may join the collective bargaining unit and exercise their right to be represented, notwithstanding their withdrawal from its membership. As such, their votes in the certification election must be counted and taken into consideration. Jurisprudence provides that member-employees of a cooperative are not prohibited from withdrawing their membership therein in order to join a labor union, and such act "is an expression of their preference for union membership over that of membership in the cooperative. The avowed policy of the State to afford full protection to labor and to promote the primacy of free collective bargaining mandates that the employees' right to form and join unions for purposes of collective bargaining be accorded the highest consideration," 3 as in this case.
SO ORDERED."
Very truly yours,
MA. LOURDES C. PERFECTODivision Clerk of Court
By:
(SGD.) TERESITA AQUINO TUAZONDeputy Division Clerk of Court
Footnotes
1.Rollo, pp. 34-44. Penned by Associate Justice Ruben Reynaldo G. Roxas with Associate Justices Edgardo T. Lloren and Rafael Antonio M. Santos concurring.
2.Id. at 46-47. Penned by Associate Justice Ruben Reynaldo G. Roxas with Associate Justices Edgardo T. Lloren and Louis P. Acosta concurring.
3.Central Negros Electric Cooperative, Inc. v. Secretary of the Department of Labor and Employment, 278 Phil. 596, 603 (1991).