EASTERN SHIPPING LINES, INC.,
petitioner vs. PHILIPPINE OVERSEAS
EMPLOYMENT ADMINISTRATION (POEA), MINISTER OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT, HEARING
OFFICER ABDUL BASAR and KATHLEEN D. SACO, respondents.
G.R. No. 76633 October 18, 1988
Facts: Vitaliano Saco, husband of the respondent was
Chief Officer of the M/V Eastern Polaris when he was killed in an accident in
Tokyo Japan, March 15, 1985. His widow sued for damages under Executive Order
No. 797 and Memorandum Circular No. 2 of the POEA. Thus she was awarded the sum
of P192,000 by the POEA.
Issues:
1) Whether or not the POEA has
jurisdiction over the case, as the husband was not an overseas worker as
contended by the petitioner?
2) Is Memorandum Circular No.2 of
the POEA which prescribed a standard contract to be adopted by both foreign and
domestic shipping companies in hiring of Filipino seamen for overseas
employment violative of the principle of non-delegation of powers?
3) Has the petitioner been denied
due process because the same POEA that issued Memorandum Circular No. 2 has
also sustained and applied it?
Rulings: 1) Yes. Saco was an overseas employee of the
petitioner at the time he met with the fatal accident in Japan, for he died
while under a contract of employment with the petitioner and alongside
petitioner’s vessel while in a foreign country. Overseas employment as defined
under the 1985 Rules and Regulations on Overseas Employment is employment of a
worker outside the Philippines, including employment in board vessels plying
international water, covered by a valid contract.
2)
Memorandum Circular No. 2 is an administrative regulation, which has the force
and effect of law. The power of the POEA in requiring the model contract is not
unlimited as there is a sufficient standard guiding the delegated in the
exercise of the said authority. It is discoverable in the executive order
itself which in creating the POEA mandated it to protect the rights of overseas
Filipino workers to fair and equitable employment practices.
3) No. Administrative agencies are
vested with two basic powers, the quasi-legislative and the quasi-judicial. The
first enables them to promulgate implementing rules and regulations, and the
second enables them to interpret and apply such regulations. Such an
arrangement has been accepted as a fact of life of modern governments and
cannot be considered violative of due process as long as the cardinal rights
laid down by Justice Laurel in the landmark case of Ang Tibay v. Court of Industrial Relations are
observed.
DEAN JOSE JOYA, CARMEN GUERRERO NAKPIL, ARMIDA
SIGUION REYNA, PROF. RICARTE M. PURUGANAN, IRMA POTENCIANO, ADRIAN CRISTOBAL,
INGRID SANTAMARIA, CORAZON FIEL, AMBASSADOR E. AGUILAR CRUZ, FLORENCIO R.
JACELA, JR., MAURO MALANG, FEDERICO AGUILAR ALCUAZ, LUCRECIA R. URTULA, SUSANO
GONZALES, STEVE SANTOS, EPHRAIM SAMSON, SOLER SANTOS, ANG KIU KOK, KERIMA
POLOTAN, LUCRECIA KASILAG, LIGAYA DAVID PEREZ, VIRGILIO ALMARIO, LIWAYWAY A.
ARCEO, CHARITO PLANAS, HELENA BENITEZ, ANNA MARIA L. HARPER, ROSALINDA OROSA,
SUSAN CALO MEDINA, PATRICIA RUIZ, BONNIE RUIZ, NELSON NAVARRO, MANDY NAVASERO,
ROMEO SALVADOR, JOSEPHINE DARANG, AND PAZ VETO PLANAS, petitioners, VS.
PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION ON GOOD GOVERNMENT (PCGG), CATALINO MACARAIG, JR., IN
HIS OFFICIAL CAPACITY, AND/OR THE EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, AND CHAIRMAN MATEO A.T.
CAPARAS, respondents.
G.R. NO. 96541, AUGUST 24, 1993
Facts: Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) Chairman
Mateo A.T. Caparas entered into a Consignment Agreement with Christie’s of New
York with the authorization of President Corazon C. Aquino consigning to
CHRISTIE’S for sale at public auction the eighty-two (82) Old Masters Paintings
found at the Metropolitan Museum of Manila as well as the silverware contained
in seventy-one (71) cartons in the custody of the Central Bank of the
Philippines. Petitioners prayed for prohibition to enjoin respondent public
officials from holding the auction sale of the artworks on January 11, 1991.
Issue: Whether the instant petition complies with the
legal requisites for the Court to exercise its power of judicial review over
the case?
Ruling: The requisites of a judicial inquiry are: 1)
There must be an actual case of controversy; 2) The question of
constitutionality must be raised by the proper party; 3) The constitutional
question must be raised at the earliest possible opportunity; and 4) The
decision of the constitutional question must be necessary to the determination
of the case itself. In the case at bar, it becomes moot and academic, since the
purpose of the petition from holding the auction sale of the artworks on a
particular date – January 11 1991 is long past.
The petitioners are not the proper parties, since they are not the true
owners of the said paintings and silverware. The paintings were donated by
private persons from different parts of the world, which legally belongs to the
foundation or corporation or the members of the Metropolitan Museum of Manila
Foundation. Same goes on the pieces of antique silverware which were given to
the Marcos couple as gifts from friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment