G.R. No. 131085 -

Ruling

Wherefore, premises considered, decision is modified insofar as back wages of Arimas is concerned which should be limited from March 21 1989 to June 15 1989. The back wages of the other complainants likewise, should be limited to 3 years. In all other respects, the appealed decision is affirmed. [13] This is a crucial point since the contentious issues hinged on this particular decision. For petitioners, the decision did not rule on the reinstatement aspect they had been questioning nor on their entitlement to their salaries as payroll-reinstated employees. Whereas for PSVSIA, the modification of the award of the Labor Arbiter was in fact the ruling on the issue, which petitioners should have appealed. A cursory examination of the 9 July 1993 NLRC decision readily shows that the grant of three (3) years' back wages entitled petitioners to a relatively smaller monetary award than if they were to be paid their payroll back wages which could be reckoned from the promulgation of the Labor Arbiter's decision ordering petitioners' reinstatement up to either the finality of the NLRC decision or their actual reinstatement. In other words, the two (2) reliefs would bring about divergent effects on the economic condition of petitioners. The fact that private respondent PSVSIA chose to limit the award of back wages to three (3) years demonstrates its preference over the other relief, i.e., grant of payroll back wages. Moreover, as correctly observed by PSVSIA, the 9 July 1993 decision of the NLRC has become final and executory, and petitioners are now barred from resurrecting the back wages issue which had lapsed to finality. We note that neither a motion for reconsideration nor appeal was ever taken by petitioners on this point. This procedural lapse is fatal. It is an established principle that a final and executory decision cannot be altered nor amended by any tribunal except where a supervening cause transpires which renders its execution unjust or impossible, or in cases of special and exceptional nature, where it becomes imperative in the higher interest of justice to direct the suspension of its execution. No discernible supervening cause nor exceptional circumstance obtains in this case to prevent its execution. Equally significant is the fact that petitioners actively participated in the enforcement of the execution by garnishing the supersedeas bond and the bank deposits of PSVSIA. The record shows that on 8 August 1995 the Labor Arbiter issued an order by virtue of which the Research and Information Unit of the NLRC prepared a computation showing the back wages due petitioners for three (3) years. Inarguably, petitioners not only assented to the computation made when they did not object thereto but even filed a motion to release the remaining balance amounting to P398,600.00 still in the hands of the NLRC to fully satisfy the judgment awards. There is likewise no cogent reason for us to disbelieve the binding effect of the Joint Manifestation dat