SECOND DIVISION
[G.R. No. 123882. November 16, 1998]
JOE ASHLEY AGGA, VICTORINO MAKIMKIM, EDILBERTO EVANGELISTA, BENHUR
SANTOS, RICHMOND CASTILLO, ROMEO AVILA, SEGUNDO GUADEZ, JR., OSCAR
MALOLOY-ON, RICARDO BELDA, RUEL TONACAO, ROMULO DILAP-DILAP, JOSE
SERGIO FRANCO, REYNALDO VILLAR, ROMULO DELA CRUZ, CAMILO CAIG,
NICOLAS URSUA, MARTIN BAEZ, JR., MARIO SOSA and WOODY PADILLA petitioners,
vs. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, SUPPLY OILFIELD SERVICES,
INC. and UNDERSEAS DRILLING, INC., respondents.
DECISION
PUNO, J.:
Private respondent Supply Oilfield Services, Inc. (SOS) hired petitioners to work on board
SEDCO/BP 471, a drillship owned and operated by private respondent Underseas Drilling, Inc.
(UDI).
The employment contracts ran for one year with petitioners enjoying two months' off with pay
for every two months' duty. The contracts also provided that for service of 12 hours a day, 7 days
a week in a two-shift 24-hour operation, petitioners would receive a fixed monthly compensation
covering "basic rate, allowances, privileges, travel allowances and benefits granted by law during
and after employment with the company."
In a complaint filed with the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA),
petitioners claimed that private respondents failed to pay them overtime pay, holiday pay, rest
day pay, 13th month pay and night shift differential. They likewise alleged that private
respondents did not comply with the mandatory insurance requirement of the rules governing
overseas employment. They further averred that while private respondents made them use
passports for overseas contract workers whenever they departed for, and returned from, overseas
employment, they were also instructed to use seaman's books upon reaching port for transfer to,
and while aboard, the oilrig. Petitioners opined that this practice entitled them to the benefits
granted by law to both land-based workers and seamen.
In their Answer and Position Paper, private respondents denied liability. They said that the
benefits referred to in the employment contracts already included overtime pay, holiday pay,
termination pay and 13th month pay. They likewise denied that petitioners were entitled to night
shift differential since no proof was submitted to show that any of them, at any time, had actually
worked from 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. In addition, private respondents belied petitioners' claim
that they did not comply with the mandatory insurance requirement. They alleged that petitioners
were insured with Blue Cross (Asia-Pacific) Insurance, Ltd. against death and permanent
disability. Lastly, private respondents contended that petitioners, as offshore oilriggers, had
nothing to do with manning a vessel or sea navigation. Hence, petitioners were merely landbased workers, not seamen.