SANGUILA, MELITA SANCHEZ, DORIE TINGCANG AND ELSA TUASTOMBAN, VS. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION, FIFTH DIVISION, AND TRENDLINE DEPARTMENT STORE AND/OR EDUARDO YAP,PROPRIETOR.

Ruling

WHEREFORE, the instant petition is GRANTED. The challenged decision of respondent National Labor Relations Commission in NLRC Case NCR Case No. RAB 12-07-10517-89 dated May 6, 1993, and that of Labor Arbiter Nicodemus G. Palangan in NLRC RAB XII Case No. 12-07-10517-89 to 12-07-10561-89 are SET ASIDE and a new one is hereby rendered: 1. DECLARING illegal and void the dismissal of petitioners by private respondents; and 2. ORDERING private respondents to reinstate petitioners without loss of seniority rights and other privileges, and to pay them full backwages, inclusive of allowances and other monetary benefits computed from the time of their separation up to the time of their actual reinstatement. 3. Private respondent, Trendline Department Store, is directed to REINSTATE the twenty-six (26) employees immediately to positions substantially equivalent to their former positions without loss of seniority rights and with backwages but the amounts received as retrenchment benefits are to be deducted therefrom. Costs against private respondents. SO ORDERED.