G.R. NO. 168096 - ALEX B. CARLOS, ABC SECURITY SERVICES, INC., AND HONEST CARE JANITORIAL SERVICES, INC., VS. COURT OF APPEALS, PERFECTO P. PIZARRO, JOEL B. DOCE, GUILLERMO F. SOLOMON, FRANCISCO U. CORPUS AND RONILLO GALLEGO.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, for lack of merit, the instant petition is DENIED due course and, accordingly DISMISSED. Consequently, the decision dated July 19, 2002 of the National Labor Relations Commission is AFFIRMED in toto. [3] The factual and procedural antecedents of the instant petition are as follows: Petitioner ABC Security is a domestic corporation engaged in the business of job contracting by providing security services to its clientele. Petitioner Honest Care Janitorial is a domestic corporation likewise engaged in job contracting janitorial services. It appears that Honest Care Janitorial was consolidated with ABC Security and the consolidated corporations are represented in this action by its president, Alex B. Carlos. Private respondents Perfecto P. Pizzaro (Pizzaro), Joel B. Doce (Doce), Francsico U. Corpus (Corpus) and Ronillo Gallego (Gallego) were employed by petitioner ABC Security as security guards and were assigned to Greenvalley Country Club at the time they were allegedly separated from employment. Private respondent Pizzaro was already with petitioner ABC Security since 1975, while private respondent Corpus was employed in 1990. Private respondents Doce and Gallego were both hired in 1987. [4] Private respondent Solomon was employed by Honest Care Janitorial as janitor supervisor since 1975 and was posted to different offices. [5] On 22 July 1993, private respondents filed a Joint/Consolidated Complaint- Affidavit [6] against petitioners praying for the payment of minimum wage, 13th month pay, holiday pay, service incentive leave, cost of living allowance and clothing allowance. As shown by the Registry Return Receipt, [7] petitioners received a copy of the complaint and the corresponding summons on 16 July 1993. On the following day, private respondents Pizzaro, Solomon and Doce were allegedly relieved from their posts and were not given new assignments. Subsequently, private respondents Gallego and Corpus were also allegedly dismissed from employment. [8] Private respondents claimed that every time they received their salaries, they were made to sign two sets of pay slips, one was written in ink while the other was written in pencil. These two pay slips showed the amount of salaries they actually received, which was below the minimum; but since the entries written on one of the pay slips they signed were in pencil, there was a possibility that petitioners could alter the said entries to make it appear that they were compliant with the labor laws. For its part, petitioners averred that private respondents were not dismissed but voluntarily resigned from their respective employments as evidenced by the resignation letters bearing their signatures. Petitioners claimed that after private respondents' assignment to Greenvalley Country Club ended, they were reassigned to other posts as an exercise of management prerogative, but they refused to transfer and opted to resign. In addition, petitioners alleged that private respondents' resignatio