NFL vs. Eisma 127 SCRA 419

 

NFL vs. Eisma

Issue: Whether the labor arbiter can pass on a suit for damages filed by the employer, respondent Zamboanga Wood Products.

Yes. The labor arbiter can pass on a suit for damages filed by the employer, respondent Zamboanga Wood products. It was held that the labor arbiter has exclusive jurisdiction over the case. By opinions of the court: “Jurisdiction over the subject matter in a judicial proceeding is conferred by the sovereign authority which organizes the court and is given only by law. Jurisdiction is never presumed, must be conferred by law in words that do not admit of doubt.” Since the jurisdiction of courts and judicial tribunals is derived exclusively from the statutes of the forum, the issue before us should be resolved on the basis of the law or statute now in force. The law in presidential Decree 1691 which took effect on May 1, 1980, amending Article 217 of the Labor code returned the original and exclusive jurisdiction to the labor arbiters. Provided for explicitly, it can only mean, that a court of first instance judge then, a regional trial court judge now, certainly acts beyond the scope of the authority conferred on him by law when he entertained the suit for damages, arising from picketing that accompanied a strike that was squarely within the express terms of the law. Any deviation cannot therefore be tolerated. It has been the constant ruling of the Court and the words of the ponencia of Justice Moreland still call for obedience that "The first and fundamental duty of courts, in our judgment, is to apply the law. Construction and interpretation come only after it has been demonstrated that application is impossible or inadequate without them."