Petitioners thereupon filed a Petition for Certiorari before the Court of
Appeals,[12] their counsel alleging that:
x x x Upon being confronted with the registry return card after the
denial of Petitioners Motion for Reconsideration by Public Respondent, Ms.
Cantalopez [of the office of petitioners counsel] realized that she had
inadvertently and mistakenly entered the date 12 and not 13. She had actually
received the decision of the Labor Arbiter on 13 July 2005 and had later that
same day recorded that date accurately on the undersigneds copy of the
Decision and in an incoming logbook, along with other incoming
correspondences addressed to the undersigned law firm, before routing these
to the appropriate attorneys, as is the Firms standard practice and internal
operating procedure. This may be considered as akin to a mere typographical
error and should not be given the extreme punishment of dismissal of
Petitioners Appeal. x x x[13] (Underscoring supplied)
Attached to the petition was the affidavit of Cantalopez of the office of
petitioners counsel and a copy of the pertinent page of the logbook of the same
office[14] reflecting the receipt on July 13, 2005 of the Labor Arbiters decision.
The Court of Appeals dismissed the petition for, inter alia, failure to show
that Marcelo R. Raenes (Raeses), Vice President of petitioner NYK-FIL Ship
Management who signed the verification and certification of non-forum
shopping, was authorized to sign for and in behalf of the said company.
[15]
Petitioners filed a Motion for Reconsideration,[16] attaching a copy of the
Board Resolution of NYK-Fil Ship Management, Inc. authorizing Raeses to sign
the required verification and certification at any stage of the subject case. Their
motion was denied,[17] hence, the present Petition[18] raising the sole issue of:
WHETHER
A
TOTALLY
NEW BOARD
RESOLUTION
AUTHORIZING A CORPORATE OFFICER TO SIGN THE
VERIFICATION AND CERTIFICATION OF NON-FORUM SHOPPING IS
SPECIFICALLY REQUIRED IN THE FILING OF A PETITION FOR
REVIEW ON CERTIORARI UNDER RULE 65, BEFORE THE COURT OF
APPEALS, EVEN IF A PREVIOUS BOARD RESOLUTION HAD
ALREADY BEEN ISSUED IN FAVOR OF THE VERY SAME
CORPORATE OFFICER AUTHORIZING HIM TO SIGN FOR AND IN
BEHALF OF THE COMPANY AT ANY STAGE OF THE CASE.[19]
Annexed to the petition is a Secretarys Certificate attesting to the conduct
of a special meeting of the Board of Directors of petitioner NYK-Fil Ship
Management, Inc. in which said petitioner is now ratifying the actions of its Vice