Manuel B. Japzon vs. Commission on Elections and Jaime S.

Ty, G.R. No. 180088, January 19, 2009

Important points in favor of :

 A domicile of origin is acquired by every person at birth. It is usually the place where the childs
parents reside and continues until the same is abandoned by acquisition of new domicile
(domicile of choice).

Philip G. Romualdez vs. Regional Trial Court of Tacloban, G.R. No. 104960, 14 September 1993, 226
SCRA 408

In order, in turn, to acquire a new domicile by choice, there must concur (1) residence or bodily
presence in the new locality, (2) an intention to remain there, and (3) an intention to abandon the old
domicile. 21 In other words, there must basically be animus manendi coupled with animus non
revertendi. The purpose to remain in or at the domicile of choice must be for an indefinite period of
time; the change of residence must be voluntary; and the residence at the place chosen for the new
domicile must be actual. 22

POSITION PAPER
FOR THE COMPLAINANT
WITH
URGENT EX PARTE MOTION
FOR PRODUCTION, INSPECTION AND EXAMINATION OF THE “201 FILE”
(PERSONNEL FILE) OF THE COMPLAINANT IN THE POSSESSION OF THE
RESPONDENTS

The COMPLAINANT, pro se, respectfully states:

I. STATEMENT OF FACTS

1. The complainant is XXX XXX XXX, 44 years old, Filipino, and residing at x x x.

2. The three respondents in this case are the following:

(a) XXX XXX AND XXX, INC. (corporate employer);

(b) Ms. “Xxx” Xxx, VP for HR Business Partner –Gaming (now the Vice President –
Human Resource Department); and

(c) Mr. Xxx Xxx, Chairman of XXX. They hold office at the Executive Offices,
XXX XXX, xxx Ave., xxx City, xxx, xxx City.

3. His position in the company was xxx Supervisor.

4. He was hired by the company on January 7, 2013.

5. He started with a Gross Annual Salary of P937,107.69. He was paid a Gross 13th Month Pay
of P78,092.31 per annum. His salaries were paid to him every 15th and 3oth day of the month
 (with the “cut off” dates of 5th day and 2oth day of each month). He started with a
monthly P84,600.00.

6. His latest monthly salary amounted to P85,431.90/month (as of May 8, 2015).

7. He was provided the following benefits during his tenure:

a. Rice Subsidy – one sack/month. Its value was converted to cash

at P1,000/month.
b. Service Charge – latest amount thereof as of May 2015
was P2,993.13/month.
c. Paid leave credits of twenty five (25) days/annum.
d. Free meals (once per duty day).
e. Health insurance – for himself and one of his children (Bill Cameron E.
Xxx, 17 years old [2015], student of Far Eastern University, BS
Psychology).
f. Life insurance – with a face value of P280,000.00.

8. See the following documents in support of the foregoing statements:

· Annex “A” - EMPLOYMENT OFFER, dated November

23, 2012;
· Annex “B” – COMPUTATION OF ANNUAL INCOME
AND WITHHOLDING TAX AS OF THE YEAR
2015.

9. In a Letter, dated January 28, 2014, issued by Mr. xxx xxx, Chief Operating Officer and
President, for his “valuable contributions” to the company, he was given a BONUS based
on his base pay as of September 30, 2013. It was released on installment basis. It was subject
to certain conditions stated in the said Letter.

A copy of the said Letter, dated January 28, 2014, is attached as Annex “C” hereof.

10. The complainant was a regular employee of the respondent company when he
was terminated on May 8, 2015 having served it for more than one year as of that date.

11. He was imposed the following penalties for TARDINESS:

(a) On March 15, 2014, a WARNING was annotated by the Pit Manager in the complainant’s
record in the TEAM TRACK, where the daily monitoring of deviations and
commendations of employees are encoded).

As shown in a Notice to Explain, dated 11 April 2014, issued by the Human Resource xxx –
xxx Department headed by respondent Xxx Xxx, the complainant was penalized for twelve
instances of tardiness, the dates of which were stated in the said Notice (between the period
March 12, 2013 to February 19, 2014).

The Notice cited Sec. VI, Article XX (Punctuality and Attendance 15A) of the TEAM
MEMBER CODE OF GOOD BEHAVIOR (TMCGB).
 Pursuant to the said Notice, he submitted to the office of the respondent Xxx Xxx one original
copy of his handwritten EXPLANATION (He did not prepare an extra file copy for
himself).

See Annex “D” – NOTICE TO EXPLAIN, dated 11 April 2014.

(b) On May 7-9, 2014 he was SUSPENDED FOR THREE DAYS. He had misplace his copy
now of the suspension order.

© On July 13-18, 2014 he was SUSPENDED FOR SIX DAYS. He had misplace his copy
now of the suspension order. Some of his tardiness before such suspension were caused by
the street blockage due to the on-going construction and/or improvement of the road where
the Casino was located.

In the early part of 2015 some of his tardiness were caused by the heavy traffic due to the papal visit
of Pope Francis.

After his six-day suspension on July 13-18, 2014, he recall that he was late only once,
i.e., January 15, 2015.
On May 8, 2015 at about 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM the complainant was ABRUPTLY AND
VERBALLY DISMISSED FROM EMPLOYMENT by the respondent Xxx Xxx in the
presence of his immediate superior xxx xxx (xxx Manager) inside the room of Xxx Xxx.

(He recall that he had only one or two tardiness before May 8, 2015).

He was then on duty from 7:00 AM to 3:00 PM.

He was sequestered by Xxx Xxx inside her room.

He was threatened and forced by Xxx Xxx to IMMEDIATELY RESIGN. Otherwise, she
would TERMINATE him (that would surely affect his future employments in other
entities, if any).

No prior notice to explain was issued to him.

No formal charge was filed against him.

No administrative hearings (due process and opportunity to be heard) were held to

discuss the problem, resolve it amicably, and hear his side. His constitutional right to
due process of law was violated.

No lawyer for company was present to explain the situation from the point of view of Labor
Law.

He was not given the chance to confer with a lawyer of his choice. His constitutional
right to counsel was violated.

He was not allowed to confer with his wife who was also employed in XXX.

For two hours he was forced to stay inside the room of the respondent Xxx Xxx and/or
within its immediate premises inside the HR area near the room od Xxx Xxx. He was
treated like a prisoner.
 Inside the room of respondent Xxx Xxx he begged her for three days to think about the
former’s order for him to issue immediately on the spot a handwritten resignation letter.

Xxx Xxx denied the request. She forced him to write on the spot a handwritten
resignation letter. She threatened him with TERMINATION.

He was not allowed to go to his locker to get his mobile phone to call his wife to confer with
her.

He was not allowed to go to the toilet.

He was not allowed to call up a lawyer.

He was not read the charges against him, if any.

Neither was there a notice of decision dismissing him from employment.

Only after two hours of forcible sequestration inside the room of the respondent Xxx
Xxx was he allowed to go home.

12. As instructed, after three days, he returned to the office of the respondent Xxx Xxx (May 11,
2015 or thereabout) to turn over to her staff over a copy of his TMCGB (employees manual),
xxx xxx MANUAL, and his health insurance card.

(He was unable to turn over to the HR staff the health insurance card for his child xxx Xxx
because the complainant had misplaced it at that time. Hence, we was charged P200.00 for
such loss).

The HR staff gave him the contact numbers of the staff COMPENSATION AND BENEFITS
(COMPENBEN) Office, which was also under the HR Dept., to follow up his receivable
salaries and other employee benefits, namely xxx xxx with Tel. No. xxx. and xxx with Mobile
No. xxx.

He was told by the HR staff to call from the said COMPENBEN staff after three or four
months.

13. RECEIVABLE SALARIES AND OTHE REMPLOYEE BENEFITS

The receivable salaries and other employee benefits of the complainant as of May 8, 2015
(date of illegal termination) were as follows:

· Salaries for three days - P9,826.03;

· Unclaimed leave credits good for 4.5 days - P14,739.05;
· Service charge - April 2014 - P1,210.32;
· Service charge - May 2014 - P2,993.13;
· Refundable income tax - P25,189.07.

The total of the foregoing items was P53,357.60.

Per company policies, the company DEDUCTED the amount

of P88,417.11 from the receivables of the complainant, broken down as follows:

· Phase 1A bonus - P30,889.11; and

 · Loyalty bonus = P57,528.00.

He was told he still had to pay the company the net amount of P35,059.51.

(Refer to Annex “B”, supra).

When the complainant reviewed the figures, it appears that the respondents
overcharged the complainant by P7,809.39representing taxes on his 13t month
pay for 2014 and the first five months of 2015. (See Annex “B-1”).

14.Sometime in August 2015, the complainant called up COMPENBEN five times. He was told
no company action has been done yet.

Sometime September 2015 he called up the said office six times. He was told no company
action has been done yet.

Sometime in October 2015 he called up again the said office. This time, he was told he
was still “NEGATIVE”.
He was being ordered to pay the company P35,059.51 before he could be cleared and his
Certificate of Employment released to him.

15. As earlier stated, his wife xxx xxx is employed with the corporate respondent Xxx. Her
position is that of a “xxx Manager 2 – xxx”. She started working with the company in
November or December 2012 or thereabout up to the present time.

16. The complainant applied with xxx xxx xxx (a new xxx company to be opened in December
2016 or thereabout) for the position of xxxx SUPERVISOR – xxx for a (reduced) salary
P45,000.00/month.

He was supposed to be hired by the said company in Oct 2016 or thereabout. But he
could not get his CERTIFICATE OF EMPLOYMENT (COE) from the respondent Xxx
unless he would first pay the company the amount of P35,059.51 that it was demanding.

On October 5, 2016 the complainant sought the legal assistance of the Single Entry Approach
(SEnA) of this Honorable Commission. It issued a notice of conference dated October 5, 2016 to the
respondents. It set the mediation on October 19, 2016 at 10:00 AM. No compromise was reached. The
respondents were then represented by Atty. xxx.
See the following documents as proofs thereof:

· Annex “E” - NOTICE OF CONFERENCE, dated October

5, 2016.
· Annex “F” - MINUTES OF CONFERENCE, dated
October 19, 2016; and
· Annex “G” - REFFERAL, dated October 26, 2016.

17. The complaint was thus referred filed with this Honorable Commission. It was raffled to
the Honorable Labor Arbiter xxx xxx. See the following documents:

· Annex “H” – COMPLAINT, dated October 26, 2016.

· Annex “I” – MINUTES, dated November 11, 2016.

18.No compromise was reached at the office of the labor arbiter. Thus the Arbiter ordered the
parties to file their respective position papers on November 29, 2016.
19. The complainant has written the HR Department of the respondent company to provide him with a
complete copy of his 201 File (Personnel File) because he would need its contents to support his
position paper.

The HR staff xxx xxx simply received it without any favorable action. He made an annotation thereon
that the said 201 File of the complainant had been “pulled out”. By whom, to whom forwarded, and
for what purpose, he did not state. Only the birth certificate and transcripts of schools records were
given to the complainant.

See Annex “J” – LETTER of the complainant duly received by HR-CompenBen Staff Jerson
Balandra on November 17, 2016.

20. For whatever legal purposes it may serve, considering that the credentials of the
complainant are relevant to his position paper, he is attaching herewith his BIODATA,
TRANSCRIPTS OF SCHOOL RECORDS, AND DIPLOMA marked as Annex “K” with
submarkings.

21. To prove his good past employment performance and status, attached hereto are copies of
various certificates of service/employment and testimonials issued by his previous employers from
1994 to 2012 (x x x, x x x , x x x x, x x x )marked as Annex “L with submarkings.

22. His National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) Clearance (valid until September 21,
2017) is attached as Annex “M” hereof to prove his good moral character.

23. The family home of the complainant in x x x x was foreclosedby the xxx Bank of
xxx City in January or February 2015 or thereabout. Due to the illegal dismissal of the
complainant on May