SEASTAR Marine Services and Cicero L. MALUNDA vs.

Lucio
A. BUL-AN Jr.
November 25, 2004 | Callejo Sr., J. |
Digester: Endaya, Ana Kristina R.

SUMMARY: Seastar hired Bul-an as a seaman but was dismissed.

Bul-an contends that Paruginog harasses and assaults him while
Paruginog and the Captain Master asserts that Bul-an is of
unsound mind and uncooperative. Bul-an filed a complaint for
illegal dismissal and for damages. The LA ruled in Bul-ans favor
which the NLRC affirmed.
On January 12, 1999, Seastars MR was denied by NLRC. On April
14, 2000, Seastar filed before the CA a petition for review on
certiorari under Rule 65 and on April 29, 1999, CA dismissed it
because Seastar failed to indicate the date when they filed the MR,
hence, CA had no way of ascertaining the timeliness of the filing of
their petition. The
SC denied Seastars petition and ruled that Seastars filing of
petition was not timely.
DOCTRINE:
3 essential dates that must be stated in a petition for certiorari
under Rule 65 (Santos v. CA) 1. Date when notice of the judgment
or final order or Resolution was received; 2. Date when a motion
for new trial or reconsideration was filed; 3. Date when notice of
the denial thereof was received.
Certiorari, being an extraordinary remedy, the party who seeks to
avail of the same must strictly observe the rules laid down by law
FACTS:
Read the first two sentence of the summary (below are the
detailed facts which are not relevant to the topic)
Seastar hired Bul-an as a seaman
o 48 hours per week
o $350/month
o Term: 9 months
He boarded M/V Blue Topaz but was then mauled by Paruginog
which caused bodily injuries. He reported this to Master
Captain Jacobus who assured him that he would settle it with
Paruginog.

Master Captain Jacobus reported to his superiors that:

o Bul-an was uncooperative, refused to obey his orders and
those of the chief officer, and often pretended to be ill in
order to be free of duty.
o Jacobus expressed fears of getting into serious trouble in
the future with the Bul-an, and for this reason, wanted to
have this man relieved.
o A note was inserted below that Bul-an had left without
permission on the evening at Villanueva, Spain. The letter
was countersigned by several crew members, including
Paruginog.
Apparently, Bul-an had again been maltreated by
Paruginog that day. Since the Captain was out on shore,
Bul-an decided to immediately leave the boat after the
incident. He returned after 4 days with a priest and
Atty. Barbat with the intention of taking up the matter
with Captain Jacobus.
However, the Captain refused to accept his explanation
and sided with Paruginog.
Paruginog
o Reported to Seastar Bul-ans respondents unusual behavior
since boarding the ship, and the circumstances leading to
the latters disembarkation.
o Denied the respondents allegations that he made threats to
kill Bul-an.
Captain Jacobus reiterated his complaints on Bul-ans work and
uncooperative attitude in another letter to his superiors
o Captain explained that he was watching out for Bul-an for
fear that the latter would force the crew to do something so
that Bul-an could get a free ticket home.
Because of the Captains refusal to take him back as a member
of the complement of th
e ship, Bul-an was forced to seek help from the Philippine
Embassy at Barcelona, Spain. He was left with no other
recourse but to return to the Philippines and later filed a
complaint for illegal dismissal with prayer for payment of back
wages, as well as actual, moral and exemplary damages
against the petitioners.
o Complaint alleged that due to the Captains refusal to
accept him upon his return to the ship, he was forced to
return to the Philippines. He immediately reported the
matter to the petitioners, but instead of receiving
assistance, he was even scolded for returning home.

Thus, he sent two letters to the petitioners demanding the

payment of his wages but his demands were not acted
upon, he was constrained to file the case for illegal
dismissal.
Seastars Position: Bul-an was psychologically ill and was
dismissed for a justified and lawful cause. (Below basically
states that Bul-an had an unusual behavior, was uncooperative:
read on if you want details)
o Averred that even only after a few days of boarding the M/V
Blue Topaz, Bul-an already showed unusual behavior. He
not only refused to obey orders from his superior officers;
he also refused to work, spending working hours in his
cabin, and totally alienated himself from the rest of the
complement of the ship, inclusive of its master and officers.
o Thus: His actuation or manifestation of himself as the
Captain, who is part owner of the vessel, described him,
complainant is just like he lost his common sense. At the
beginning, that is, after about a week on board, he
confronted the Master of the vessel and told him that the
vessel was too small for him and too many work. Just the
same, he was told by the Master that he still have to stay
your tour. Bul-an continues to disobey his master and
officers and behave indifferently as if he is mentally ill.
o While the vessel was anchored at Villanueva, Spain, he
abandoned ship and was not found until he was reported to
the local authorities who located him at Stella Maris
Seamans Club. He claimed that because of fear to be killed
or thrown over board by the Chief Officer who is also a
Filipino, he abandoned ship and hid at said Club. Due to the
troubles and problems being encountered by the Master of
the vessel and the crew with complainant, he was dismissed
and repatriated.
o

Relevant facts now: Focus on the dates

(November 19, 1997) LA: In favor of Bul-an.
o Dismissed without just cause.
The allegation that Bul-an was insane was not proven,
as such, the presumption of sanity in favor of Bul-an
remained unrebutted. Furthermore,
Seastar failed to observe twin requirement of notice and
hearing
o The duration of Bul-ans contract was for 9 months at
$350.00 (approximately P9,100.00). Since his services were
unjustly terminated only after 2 months of employment,

without his wages having been paid, he is entitled to the

full reimbursement of the placement fee with interest at
12% per annum, plus salaries for the unexpired portion of
his employment contract or for 3 months for every year of
the unexpired term, whichever is less, conformably to
Section 10, paragraph 6 of Republic Act No. 8042,
otherwise known as the Migrant Workers Act.
o Citing Reta v. NLRC, awarded actual damages for failure to
observe due process.
o Citing Maglutac v NLRC, moral and exemplary damages,
including attorneys were also awarded.
o Seastar, as the private employment agency, is jointly and
solidarily liable with its foreign principal, conformably to
the ruling of the Court in Catan v. NLRC.
Seastar assailed the decision before NLRC.
(September 15, 1998) NLRC: In favor of Bul-an. Dismissed
Seastars appeal for lack of merit.
o Under the facts and circumstances, Bul-an could not have
been said to have abandoned or resigned from work.
o Conclusion was that he was illegally dismissed and entitled
to receive the money award given by the labor arbiter.
o Findings of fact of the labor arbiter are entitled to great
respect and are generally binding on the Commission, as
long as they are substantially supported by the established
facts and evidence on record, as well as the applicable law
and jurisprudence, and that in this case, the labor arbiter
committed no grave abuse of discretion.
(January 12, 1999) Seastars MR denied by NLRC for lack of
merit in a resolution.
(April 14, 2000) Seastar filed a petition for review on certiorari
under Rule 65 before CA.
(April 29, 1999) CA: Dismissed petition for review
o Dismissed because Seastar failed to allege the date when
they filed their MR. Hence, no way of ascertaining the
timeliness of the filing of their petition.
Seastar filed an MR with Prayer for Leave to Admit amended
petition which was denied by CA.
Seastar appeals before SC via petition for review.

Petition of Seastar before SC: Nullify CAs resolution dismissing

their petition on purely technical grounds

They begged for leave to file an amended petition indicating

date of filing of their MR.
They substantially complied with Sections 3 and 5 of Rule 46
since their MR of NLRC decision was attached in their petition
as Annex B.
Evangelista v. Mendoza: Annexes which are attached to the
pleading are to be read and considered as a part thereof, and
as such, the the timeliness of the filing of the petition for
certiorari may easily be determined from the petition itself.
In any case, the timeliness of the filing of the petition should be
reckoned from the date of official receipt of a copy of the
resolution of the NLRC denying their motion for
reconsideration, or on April 28, 1999.

RULING: Instant petition DENIED.

Whether Court of Appeals erred in dismissing the
petitioners petition under Rule 65 on the ground of
Seastars failure to indicate the date of receipt of the
Resolution of the NLRC denying their motion for
reconsideration in the petition before the CA

3 essential dates that must be stated in a petition for certiorari

under Rule 65 (Santos v. CA)
1. Date when notice of the judgment or final order or
Resolution was received;
2. Date when a motion for new trial or reconsideration was
filed;
3. Date when notice of the denial thereof was received.
Rationale: To determine its timeliness.
o Such a petition is required to be filed not later than 60 days
from notice of the judgment, order or Resolution sought to
be assailed. Therefore, that the petition for certiorari was
filed 41 days from receipt of the denial of the motion for
reconsideration is hardly relevant. The Court of Appeals
was not in any position to determine when this period
commenced to run and whether the motion for
reconsideration itself was filed on time since the material
dates were not stated.
o It should not be assumed that in no event would the motion
be filed later than 15 days. Technical rules of procedure are

not designed to frustrate the ends of justice. These are

provided to effect the prompt, proper and orderly
disposition of cases and thus effectively prevent the
clogging of court dockets. Utter disregard of the Rules
cannot justly be rationalized by harking on the policy of
liberal construction.
Certiorari, being an extraordinary remedy, the party who seeks
to avail of the same must strictly observe the rules laid down
by law.
o In this case, the petitioners aver that they received the
resolution of the NLRC dated January 12, 1999 denying
their motion for reconsideration only on April 28, 1999, the
date the NLRC officially furnished petitioners a copy of said
resolution as evidenced by a certified true copy issued by
the NLRC.
o However, in their petition before the appellate court, the
petitioners made the admission that they, on 15 February
1999, through undersigned counsel, officially received the
same.
o It is settled that a judicial admission is binding on the
person who makes it, and absent any showing that it was
made through palpable mistake, no amount of
rationalization can offset such admission.
o Thus, Court cannot countenance nor consider the
petitioners claim of actual receipt of the copy of the NLRC
resolution on an altogether different date without even an
explanation therefor.
Even if we check the MR attached to the petition (that they
filed their MR of the NLRC decision on December 10, 1998)
Still, their petition is dismissible as it was filed 5 days late.
We cannot accept the contention that they received copy of the
NLRC resolution dated January 12, 1999 only on April 28, 1999
since the instant petition for certiorari was filed earlier or on
April 14, 1999.
o This is an absurd situation where the petition assailing the
NLRC resolution was filed even before they received a copy
thereof