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Pacific Bankig Corp. Employees Org. v. CA GR 109373
Pacific Bankig Corp. Employees Org. v. CA GR 109373
Puruganan Chato Tan & Geronimo for petitioner in G.R. No. 112991.
Potenciano A. Flores for petitioners in G.R. No. 109373.
Marbibi Law Office for private respondent.
The Solicitor General for public respondent.
SYLLABUS
DECISION
MENDOZA, J : p
In his order dated September 11, 1992, respondent judge of the RTC
directed the Liquidator to pay private respondents the total amount of their
claim as preferred creditors. 7
The Liquidator received the order on September 16, 1992.
On September 30, 1992 he moved for reconsideration, but his motion was
denied by the court on October 2, 1992. He received the order denying his
Motion for Reconsideration on October 5, 1992. On October 14,1992 he
filed a Notice of Appeal from the orders of September 16, 1992 and October
2, 1992. As in the case of the Union, however, the judge ordered the Notice
of Appeal stricken off the record on the ground that it had been filed without
authority of the Central Bank and beyond 15 days. In his order of October
28, 1992, the judge directed the execution of his September 11, 1992 order
granting the Stockholders/Investors' claim.
II.
Proceedings in the Court of Appeals
The Liquidator filed separate Petitions for Certiorari, Prohibition and
Mandamus in the Court of Appeals to set aside the orders of the trial court
denying his appeal from the orders granting the claims of Union and of the
Stockholders/Investors. The two Divisions of the Court of Appeals, to which
the cases were separately raffled, rendered conflicting rulings.
In its decision of November 17, 1992 in CA-G.R. SP No. 27751
(now G.R. No. 109373) the Fifth Division 8 held in the case of the Union that
the proceeding before the trial court was a special proceeding and, therefore,
the period for appealing from any decision or final order rendered therein is
30 days. Since the notice of appeal of the Liquidator was filed on the 30th
day of his receipt of the decision granting the Union's claims, the appeal was
brought on time. The Fifth Division, therefore, set aside the orders of the
lower court and directed the latter to give due course to the appeal of the
Liquidator and set the Record on Appeal he had filed for hearing. llcd
It should be pointed out that this petition filed is not among the
cases categorized as a special proceeding under Section 1, Rule 72 of
the Rules of Court, nor among the special proceedings that may be
appealed under Section 1, Rule 109 of the Rules.
We disagree with the foregoing view of the Fourteenth Division. Rule
2 of the Rules of Court provide:
§1. Action defined. — Action means an ordinary suit in a court
of justice, by which one party prosecutes another for the enforcement
or protection of a right, or the prevention or redress of a wrong.
§2. Special proceeding distinguished. — Every other remedy,
including one to establish the status or right of a party or a particular
fact, shall be by special proceeding.
Elucidating the crucial distinction between an ordinary action and a
special proceeding, Chief Justice Moran states: 11
Action is the act by which one sues another in a court of justice
for the enforcement or protection of a right, or the prevention or redress
of a wrong while special proceeding is the act by which one seeks to
establish the status or right of a party, or a particular fact. Hence, action
is distinguished from special proceeding in that the former is a formal
demand of a right by one against another, while the latter is but a
petition for a declaration of a status, right or fact. Where a party-litigant
seeks to recover property from another, his remedy is to file an action.
Where his purpose is to seek the appointment of a guardian for an
insane, his remedy is a special proceeding to establish the fact or
status of insanity calling for an appointment of guardianship.
Considering this distinction, a petition for liquidation of an insolvent
corporation should be classified a special proceeding and not an ordinary
action. Such petition does not seek the enforcement or protection of a right
nor the prevention or redress of a wrong against a party. It does not pray for
affirmative relief for injury arising from a party's wrongful act or omission nor
state a cause of action that can be enforced against any person.
What it seeks is merely a declaration by the trial court of the
corporation's insolvency so that its creditors may be able to file their claims
in the settlement of the corporation's debts and obligations. Put in another
way, the petition only seeks a declaration of the corporation's debts and
obligations. Put in another way, the petition only seeks a declaration of the
corporation's state of insolvency and the concomitant right of creditors and
the order of payment of their claims in the disposition of the corporation's
assets.
Contrary to the rulings of the Fourteenth Division, liquidation
proceedings do not resemble petitions for interpleader. For one, an action
for interpleader involves claims on a subject matter against a person who
has no interest therein. 12 This is not the case in a liquidation proceeding
where the Liquidator, as representative of the corporation, takes charge of
its assets and liabilities for the benefit of the creditors. 13 He is thus charged
with insuring that the assets of the corporation are paid only to rightful
claimants and in the order of payment provided by law.
Rather, a liquidation proceeding resembles the proceeding for the
settlement of estate of deceased persons under Rules 73 to 91 of the Rules
of Court. The two have a common purpose: the determination of all the
assets and the payment of all the debts and liabilities of the insolvent
corporation or the estate. The Liquidator and the administrator or executor
are both charged with the assets for the benefit of the claimants. In both
instances, the liability of the corporation and the estate is not disputed. The
court's concern is with the declaration of creditors and their rights and the
determination of their order of payment. LexLib
Footnotes
1.MB Resolution No. 1233 issued on November 22, 1985.
2.Renan V. Santos, Special Assistant to the Governor of the Central Bank of the
Philippines.
3.Docketed as SP Proc. No. 86-35313.
4.MB Resolution No. 537.
5.The dispositive portion of the order, dated September 13, 1991, reads:
WHEREFORE, the Court hereby directs the Liquidator to immediately
compute and pay the following monetary claims of the plaintiffs/intervenors:
(a) Holiday pay covering the period from November 1, 1974 to
October 31, 1985;
(b) 13th month pay in 1985 and salary differential pay to employees
with permanent appointments as of January 1982 including the 28% salary
increase under the 1982 CBA; and
(c) 1985 Christmas bonus;
(d) Commutation and payment of all unused sick leave credits; and
(e) The payment of 10% of the total claims as computed, due and
paid to the plaintiffs/intervenors' counsel, Atty. Potenciano A. Flores, as
attorney's fees through the Branch Clerk of Court.
The Monetary Claims of the plaintiffs/intervenors for the Emergency
Leave credits, Hospital Assistance Funds, and Anniversary Increase are
DENIED unless supporting documents are presented by
claimants/intervenors as attested by PaBC's physician and/or responsible
officers of the PaBC that they are entitled to said claims.
SO ORDERED.
6.The dispositive portion of the order, dated December 6, 1991, reads:
WHEREFORE, the Order of this Court dated September 13, 1991 is
hereby modified and the Liquidator is ordered to immediately compute and
pay the following monetary claims of the plaintiffs/intervenors:
a) The claim for holiday pay covering the period from November 1,
1974 to October 31, 1985;
b) The claim for 28% salary differential pursuant to the CBA increase;
c) The claim for Christmas Bonus which should be pro rated based
on the employees length of service rendered up to 1985 when the Pacific
Banking Corporation was placed under liquidation; and
d) The claim for unused sick leave benefits which should be
computed and paid accordingly.
Furthermore, this Court orders:
a) The prorata payment of 13th month pay in accordance with the
position taken by the Liquidator provided in the Implementing Rules of the
Department of Labor; and
b) Consistent with the previous orders of this Court payment of 10%
attorney's fees should be deducted from the total claims afforded to the
plaintiffs/intervenors and other employees of the bank (PaBC).
7.The dispositive portion of the trial court's order, dated September 11, 1992 reads:
WHEREFORE, premises considered, the Liquidator of PaBC is
ordered to pay claimants, through their Attorney-In-Fact Gonzalo C. Sy, their
total investment of US$2,531,632.18 as preferred creditors. Dividends
and/or interest that accrued in favor of claimants is hereby deferred pending
study by the Liquidator who is hereby ordered to submit his report and
recommendation within thirty (30) days from receipt of this Order.
8.Justice Serafin E. Camilon, Chairman and ponente; Justices Serafin V.C.
Guingona and Cancio C. Garcia, Members, concurring.
9.Justice Antonio M. Martinez, Chairman and ponente; Justices Artemon D. Luna
and Ma. Alicia Austria-Martinez, Members, concurring.
10.§1. Interpleader when proper. — Whenever conflicting claims upon the same
subject matter are or may be made against a person, who claims no interest
whatever in the subject matter, or an interest which in whole or in part is not
disputed by the claimants, he may bring an action against the conflicting
claimants to compel them to interplead and litigate their several claims
among themselves.
11.1 MORAN, COMMENTS ON THE RULE OF COURT 119-120 (1979),
citing Hagans v. Wislizenus, 42 Phil. 880, 882, (1922).
12.Alvarez v. Commonwealth, 65 Phil. 302 (1938).
13.Rep. Act No. 265, 29, as amended.
14.Salud v. Central Bank of the Philippines, 143 SCRA 590 (1986).
15.162 SCRA 288 (1988).
16.Rollo, p. 41, G.R. No. 112991.
17.Annexes "H" and "I", Rollo, CA-G.R. S.P. No. 27751.
(Pacific Banking Corp. Employees Organization v. Court of Appeals, G.R. Nos.
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