PURIFICACION MANLIGUEZ, ET. AL. V. CA, ET. AL.

20 May 1994

Facts:
 DOLE Region VII ordered Iductocast Cebu to pay its former employees a
total of P232, 908. As a consequence of the judgment, the Labor
Department’s Regional Sheriff levied and sold the buildings and properties
in Tipolo, Mandaue City (Tipolo Properties) owned by Inductocast.
 Petitioners filed with the RTC a complaint seeking the lifting of the levy
over and annulment of the sale of the Tipolo properties. Petitioners claim
that they are the owners of the Tipolo Properties pursuant to a lease
contract which had a stipulation that the lessors would automatically own
the properties after the expiration of the lease. The lease has expired.
 One Atty. Danilo Pilapil filed an MTD on the ground that the RTC has no
jurisdiction over the case. RTC held that it had no jurisdiction over the
case since the levy and sale are connected with the case within the
exclusive jurisdiction of DOLE. CA affirmed the dismissal.

Issue: WON the RTC has jurisdiction over the case

Held: Yes.

Ruling:
 The case is NOT a labor case. No employer-employee relationship exists between
petitioners and the other parties, and no issue is involved which may be resolved
by reference to the Labor Code, other labor statutes, or any collective bargaining
agreement. Neither can we characterize petitioner’s action before the trial court
as arising out of a labor dispute. It was not brought to reverse or modify the
judgment of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Neither did it
question the validity of, or pray for, the quashal of the writ of execution against
Inductocast.
 If the petition was in the nature of a motion to quash the writ and/or with
respect to the acts of the DOLE officials, then the case is growing out of the
labor dispute. (The acts complained of were perpetrated during the execution of
the decision of DOLE). But here, the complaint does not attack the validity of the
writ of attachment.
 A person who claims to be the owner of property levied upon on execution may
file a third-party claim with the sheriff or file a separate and independent action
to vindicate his claim. Levy and sale of property by virtue of a writ of attachment
is law fill only when the levied property indubitably belongs to the defendant.