2 set 13C Timbungco vs Castro PICHAY, NIMPA T.

nd

Rights Arising From Unionism TIMBUNGCO vs. CASTRO G.R. No. 76111, March 14, 1990 NARVASA, J.

FACTS: The petitioner, Emmanuel Timbungco was the president of a union named KAPISANAN, composed of employees of Associated Anglo American Tobacco Corp (AAATC). The union had a 3-year CBA with the said corporation. On July 15, 1984, or with the so called freedom period of sixty days a general meeting of all the members of the KAPISANAN was held and the body unanimously approved the disaffiliation of the KAPISANAN from the mother union, Federation FOITAF, and amendment of its constitution and by-laws. A new set of officers were elected which included Timbungco as the re-elected president without opposition. After submission to the BLR of the required documentation, a new registration certificate was issued to the KAPISANAN. CBA negotiations were commenced between Timbungco as the re-elected president of the KAPISANAN and AAATC which eventually resulted in the execution of another 3-year collective bargaining agreement. A copy of the agreement was filed with the BLR. On April 8, 1986, Zapanta, president of Association of Democratic Labor Organizations (ADLO) sent a letter to BLR advising that majority of members of KAPISANAN had affiliated with ADLO. On April 10, 1986, ADLOs Executive National Vice President Tayo, wrote AAATC and requested to stop deducting dues and refuse to deal with Timbungco and his group for the loss by the KAPISANAN of its status as recognized representative of the bargaining unit. On April 12, Delicano Pajares, a member of the KAPISANAN also wrote a letter to AAATC to stop deducting union dues. Pajares filed with BLR a petition for election of officers of the KAPISANAN alleging that the election of officers held on July 15, 1984 was invalid. After appropriate proceedings, the Med-Arbiter Reynante issued an order declaring invalid the election of union officers held on July 15, 1984. On appeal, the decision was affirmed in toto in a resolution rendered by BLR Cresenciano Trajano. Timbungco filed a motion for reconsideration and was denied by OIC Director Labor Relations, Ricardo Castro. The petitioner filed a special action of certiorari praying for the nullification of the resolution of the BLR sustaining the decision of Med-Arbiter. ISSUE: Whether or not the election of union officers held on July 15, 1984 is valid. HELD: Yes, the election of union officers is valid. Under the Rules implementing the Labor Code, protests against elections should be formalized before the medarbiter within (5) days from the close of the election proceedings and must be decided by the latter within twenty (20) working days. The private respondents' objections to the elections of July 15, 1984 have come too late, and they must be deemed in the premises to have forfeited their right to impugn the same. In this case, the protest against the election was presented to the med-arbiter only after the lapse of almost two (2) years after it was held. And in that interval, no informal protest, oral or written, was ever presented against the election. There was tacit acceptance of the regularity of the elections and the results thereof. It does not appear that the dispensing by the membership of the KAPISANAN with certain technical requirements or formalities in relation to the election of July 15, 1984 had resulted in the deprivation of any substantial right or prerogative of anyone, or caused the perpetration of a fraud or other serious anomaly, or more importantly, precluded the expression and ascertainment of the popular will in the choice of officers.