OSCI strongly argues that the July 30, 1999 NLRC Decision remanding the case has become final and executory, thus the applicability of the doctrine of res judicata and the principle of the “law of the case” thereto. There being res judicata between the parties, the NLRC’s setting aside of the January 28, 1999 Decision of Labor Arbiter Mayor, Jr. has become final. Thus, OSCI maintains that the CA gravely erred in reinstating the January 28, 1999 Decision of Labor Arbiter Mayor, Jr.   And relying on the Court’s pronouncement in Cucueco v. Court of Appeals50[50] on the principle of the “law of the case,” OSCI asserts that the ruling of the July 30, 1999 NLRC Decision, remanding the case to the Labor Arbiter for clarificatory hearings requiring the personal appearance of Bastol and the testimonies of Dr. Lim and Dr. Vicaldo, may no longer be disturbed and must be complied with. Thus, it argues that the non-compliance thereof and the belated submission of an alleged affidavit by Dr. Vicaldo are clear contraventions of the 50[50] G.R. No. 139278, October 25, 2004, 441 SCRA 290, 300-301, which states: “Law of the case” has been defined as the opinion delivered on a former appeal. It is a term applied to an established rule that when an appellate court passes on a question and remands the case to the lower court for further proceedings, the question there settled becomes the law of the case upon subsequent appeal. It means that whatever is once irrevocably established as the controlling legal rule or decision between the parties in the same case continues to be the law of the case, whether correct on general principles or not, so long as the facts on which such decision was predicated continue to be the facts of the case before the court. As a general rule, a decision on a prior appeal of the same case is held to be the law of the case whether that question is right or wrong, the remedy of the party deeming himself aggrieved being to seek a rehearing.