Supreme Court: Kentex officer liable to pay workers P1.4 million

The Supreme Court has reinstated a Labor department order holding the general manager and treasurer of Kentex Manufacturing Corp. liable for P1.4 million to 57 underpaid workers.

In a July 8 decision, the First Division reversed a 2017 Court of Appeals (CA) ruling that discharged Ong King Guan from monetary liability that had been set by an order of the Department of Labor and Employment - National Capital Region (DOLE-NCR) in 2015.

The DOLE order, "finding respondent Ong King Guan solidarily liable to pay the employees named in the Order the amount of Php 1,440,641.39 is hereby reinstated," according to the ruling penned by Associate Justice Mariano del Castillo.

Chief Justice Lucas Bersamin and Associate Justices Francis Jardeleza, Alexander Gesmundo, and Rosmari Carandang concurred with the decision.

The P1.4 million represents underpayment of basic wages, premium pay, night shift and overtime pay; non-payment of cost-of-living allowance and regular holiday pay; and unauthorized deduction of cash bond, among others.

The DOLE order originally held Kentex and/or Kentex chairman and CEO Beato Ang and/or Ong to pay the amount.

This case is different from the Office of the Ombudsman's appeal for the High Court to reverse the Sandiganbayan decision that dismissed multiple homicide and graft charges against Valenzuela City Mayor Rex Gatchalian over the Kentex factory fire that killed 72 workers in 2015.

https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/metro/681074/ombudsman-appeals-sc-to-reverse-dismissal-of-raps-vs-rex-gatchalian/story/

The DOLE had gone to the SC in this case to contest the CA's ruling that said Ong could not be personally held liable for the debts of Kentex "without a showing of bad faith or wrongdoing on his part for the corporation's unlawful act."

The department argued that its 2015 order had become final and executory -- and therefore unalterable by the CA -- after Ong failed to file an appeal before the DOLE secretary within the allowed period.

In its 9-page ruling, the SC agreed that the order had lapsed into finality. "The June 26, 2015 Order having become final, it could no longer be altered or modified by discharging or releasing Ong from his accountability," the Court said.

The Court, likewise, found no merit in Kentex and Ong's claim that they had been deprived of due process, finding that they "substantially participated" in the DOLE-NCR proceedings.

"Thus, it is self-evident that the CA committed serious error when it ordered the discharge or release of Ong from the obligations of Kentex," the Court held.

"The reason is elemental in its simplicity: contrary to settled, unrelenting jurisprudence, it unconsciously and egregiously sought to alter and modify, as indeed it altered and modified, an already final and executory verdict."

The Court said the DOLE order must be upheld without any showing that its alteration by the CA "falls within the exceptions to the rule of immutability of final judgments." — MDM, GMA News