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686 Phil. 21
THIRD DIVISION
[ G.R. No. 163657, April 18, 2012 ]
INTERNATIONAL MANAGEMENT SERVICES/MARILYN C. PASCUAL,
PETITIONER, VS. ROEL P. LOGARTA, RESPONDENT.
DECISION
PERALTA, J.:
This is a petition for review on certiorari assailing the Decision[1] dated January 8, 2004
of the Court of Appeals (CA) in CA-G.R. SP No. 58739, and the Resolution[2] dated May
12, 2004 denying petitioner’s motion for reconsideration.
The factual and procedural antecedents are as follows:
Sometime in 1997, the petitioner recruitment agency, International Management
Services (IMS), a single proprietorship owned and operated by Marilyn C. Pascual,
deployed respondent Roel P. Logarta to work for Petrocon Arabia Limited (Petrocon) in
Alkhobar, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in connection with general engineering services of
Petrocon for the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco).
Respondent was
employed for a period of two (2) years, commencing on October 2, 1997, with a
monthly salary of eight hundred US Dollars (US$800.00). In October 1997, respondent
started to work for Petrocon as Piping Designer for works on the projects of Saudi
Aramco.
Thereafter, in a letter[3] dated December 21, 1997, Saudi Aramco informed Petrocon
that for the year 1998, the former is allotting to the latter a total work load level of
170,850 man-hours, of which 100,000 man-hours will be allotted for cross-country
pipeline projects.
However, in a letter[4] dated April 29, 1998, Saudi Aramco notified Petrocon that due to
changes in the general engineering services work forecast for 1998, the man-hours that
were formerly allotted to Petrocon is going to be reduced by 40%.
Consequently, due to the considerable decrease in the work requirements of Saudi
Aramco, Petrocon was constrained to reduce its personnel that were employed as
piping designers, instrument engineers, inside plant engineers, etc., which totaled to
some 73 personnel, one of whom was respondent.
Thus, on June 1, 1998, Petrocon gave respondent a written notice[5] informing the
latter that due to the lack of project works related to his expertise, he is given a 30-day
notice of termination, and that his last day of work with Petrocon will be on July 1,
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