Case Doctrine:
Compliance with the certification against forum shopping
is separate from and independent of the avoidance of the act of forum shopping
itself.
Facts:
The respondent Alcaraz was the
Regulatory Affairs and Information Manager of Aventis Pasteur Philippines who
showed interest in applying as a Medical and Regulatory Affairs Manager, a
position that was published by the petitioner Abbot Laboratories in the
newspaper. When the petitioner formally offered the position to the respondent,
the latter accepted the position. It was on May 23, 2005 that Walsh, Almazar
and Bernardo formally handed to the respondent a letter terminating her
employment with the detailed explanation for her termination. The respondent
then filed a complaint for illegal dismissal with damages against the
petitioner and its officers. The Labor Arbiter upheld the termination of
probationary employment of the respondent holding that the termination was
justified with no evidence showing that the officers of the Abbot Lab acted in
bad faith when terminating her services.
The NLRC annulled and set
aside the ruling of the Labor Arbiter which prompted the petitioners to file
before the Court of Appeals a petition for certiorari with prayer for issuance
of a temporary restraining order and writ of preliminary injunction. Meanwhile,
the action of the petitioner on its motion for reconsideration of the CA’s
resolution in the second CA petition was denied that became final on January
10, 2011 because the petitioner failed to file a timely appeal on the said
decision. Alcaraz, in her comment, raised the issue on forum shopping when the
petitioner filed its second petition to the CA pending the resolution of the
motion for reconsideration that they filed earlier in the December 10, 2009
decision. Alcaraz further contends that the petitioners failed to comply with
certification requirement under Section 5, Rule 7 of the rules of court when
they failed to disclose in their petition filed on June 16, 2010 Memorandum of
Appeal filed before the NLRC.
Issue:
Whether or not the petitioner
violated the rule against forum shopping and have violated the certification
requirement under Section 5, Rule 7 of the Rules of Court.
