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conformably with existing case law, the NLRC’s grant of attorney’s fees in the amount
of US$6,100.00 was called for since petitioner was forced to litigate to protect her
valid claim. Where an employee is forced to litigate and incur expenses to protect his
right and interest, he is entitled to an award of attorney’s fees equivalent to 10% of the
award.[90]
All in all, the NLRC’s award of US$67,100.00[91] – which, as the records bear, had
already been paid[92] by respondents – is hereby sustained.
IV. A Final Point.
As a final point of rumination, it must be highlighted that the CA’s parameter of analysis
in cases elevated to it from the NLRC is the existence of the latter’s grave abuse of
discretion, considering that they come before the appellate court through petitions for
certiorari. This delimitation, in relation to the Court’s task of reviewing the case
eventually appealed before it, was explained in Montoya v. Transmed Manila
Corporation[93] as follows:
[W]e review in this Rule 45 petition the decision of the CA on a Rule 65
petition filed by Montoya with that court. In a Rule 45 review, we consider
the correctness of the assailed CA decision, in contrast with the review for
jurisdictional error that we undertake under Rule 65. Furthermore, Rule 45
limits us to the review of questions of law raised against the assailed CA
decision. In ruling for legal correctness, we have to view the CA decision in
the same context that the petition for certiorari it ruled upon was presented
to it; we have to examine the CA decision from the prism of whether it
correctly determined the presence or absence of grave abuse of discretion in
the NLRC decision before it, not on the basis of whether the NLRC decision
on the merits of the case was correct. In other words, we have to be keenly
aware that the CA undertook a Rule 65 review, not a review on appeal, of
the NLRC decision challenged before it. This is the approach that should be
basic in a Rule 45 review of a CA ruling in a labor case. In question form,
the question to ask is: Did the CA correctly determine whether the NLRC
committed grave abuse of discretion in ruling on the case?[94]
Given that the NLRC’s ruling was amply supported by the evidence on record and
current jurisprudence on the subject matter, the Court, in opposition to the CA, finds
that no grave abuse of discretion had been committed by the labor tribunal. Hence, the
CA’s grant of respondents’ certiorari petition before it ought to be reversed, and
consequently the NLRC Decision be reinstated.
WHEREFORE, the petition is GRANTED. The Decision dated March 28, 2011 and the
Resolution dated August 26, 2011 of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP. No. 113835
are hereby reversed and SET ASIDE and the Decision dated November 10, 2009 of the
National Labor Relations Commission is REINSTATED.
elibrary.judiciary.gov.ph/thebookshelf/showdocsfriendly/1/58338
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