G.R. No. 155214 - R & E TRANSPORT, INC., AND HONORIO ENRIQUEZ, VS. AVELINA P. LATAG, REPRESENTING HER DECEASED HUSBAND, PEDRO M. LATAG.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

WHEREFORE, premises considered, the petition is hereby GRANTED. The assailed Order of public respondent NLRC is SET ASIDE. The March 14, 2001 [4] [D]ecision of the Labor Arbiter a quo is REINSTATED. [5] The challenged Resolution denied petitioners Motion for Reconsideration. The Factual Antecedents The antecedents of the case are narrated by the CA as follows: Pedro Latag was a regular employee x x x of La Mallorca Taxi since March 1, 1961. When La Mallorca ceased from business operations, [Latag] x x x transferred to [petitioner] R & E Transport, Inc. x x x. He was receiving an average daily salary of five hundred pesos (P500.00) as a taxi driver. [Latag] got sick in January 1995 and was forced to apply for partial disability with the SSS, which was granted. When he recovered, he reported for work in September 1998 but was no longer allowed to continue working on account of his old age. Latag thus asked Felix Fabros, the administrative officer of [petitioners], for his retirement pay pursuant to Republic Act 7641 but he was ignored. Thus, on December 21, 1998, [Latag] filed a case for payment of his retirement pay before the NLRC. Latag however died on April 30, 1999. Subsequently, his wife, Avelina Latag, substituted him. On January 10, 2000, the Labor Arbiter rendered a decision in favor of [Latag], the dispositive portion of which reads: WHEREFORE, judgment is hereby rendered ordering x x x LA MALLORCA TAXI, R & E TRANSPORT, INC. and their owner/chief executive officer HONORIO ENRIQUEZ to jointly and severally pay MRS. AVELINA P. LATAG the sum of P277,500.00 by way of retirement pay for her deceased husband, PEDRO M. LATAG. SO ORDERED.