G.R. No. 140692 - ROGELIO C. DAYAN, VS. BANK OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS, XAVIER LOINAZ, OSCAR CONTRERAS, AND GERLANDA DE CASTRO.D E C I S I O N - Supreme Court E-Library

Ruling

ACCORDINGLY, premises considered, the instant case is hereby DISMISSED for lack of merit." [6] On appeal, the NLRC reversed the decision of the labor arbiter and declared the dismissal to be illegal on the ground that petitioner was denied due process ratiocinating that a hearing should have been afforded petitioner for a chance to confront the witnesses against him. In its ruling of 30 August 1996, the NLRC concluded: "IN VIEW OF THE FOREGOING, respondent is hereby ordered to reinstate complainant Rogelio Dayan to his former position without loss of seniority rights and other privileges appurtenant thereto with full backwages from the time his salary was withheld from him up to [the] time of his retirement, less the amount already received by him." [7] Respondent bank filed with this Court, docketed G.R. No. 127115, a petition for certiorari questioning the NLRC decision. The Court referred the petition to the Court of Appeals. The appellate court rendered its decision on 30 April 1999 and resolution of 30 August 1999, reversing the judgment of the NLRC. In its petition for review before this Court, petitioner argues that the Court of Appeals has wrongly relied on unsworn statements taken by the bank from its contractual employees. Petitioner believes that the factual conclusions of the NLRC which has acquired expertise on the matters entrusted to it should have instead been respected by the appellate court. The Court is not convinced that the Court of Appeals has committed an error in holding to be justifiable the dismissal of petitioner from respondent bank. The pieces of evidence on the malpractices attributed to petitioner are simply too numerous to be ignored. Contrary to petitioner's claim, the suppliers who complained about the mulcting activities did, in fact, execute affidavits, such as the sworn statements of Alberto Tadeo, owner of Alta Printing Services, and Jesus Ibe, owner of JLI Transport, which formed part of the records of his case. [8] Alfredo Baldonado, an employee under the supervision of petitioner, himself affirmed under oath the veracity of the suppliers' complaint and narrated still other incidents of irregularities which had come to his personal knowledge during the time he worked as a purchasing clerk under petitioner. The charges against petitioner were supported and backed up by an audit report conducted by the bank's audit team. Petitioner bewails his preventive suspension. The policy of preventively suspending an employee under investigation for charges involving dishonesty is an acceptable precautionary measure in order to preserve the integrity of vital papers and documents that may be material and relevant to the case and to which he, otherwise, would have access by virtue of his position. [9] It would appear that it was only after an exhaustive investigation that respondent bank finally decided to terminate the services of petitioner on 25 October 1993 via a "Notice of Termination." The Court of Appeals was conv