Alpha Investigation and Security Agency vs NLRC

Alpha Investigation and Security Agency vs NLRC

G.R. No. 111722

Case Digest

By: G-one T. Paisones

Facts:

On August 17, 1992, Labor Arbiter Emiliano T. de Asis rendered a decision that the respondent Alpha Investigation and Security Agency and Mariano Marcos State University to pay each complainant the amount of P41,459.51 representing salary differential for the period from February 16, 1990 to September 30, 1991, or the total amount of P787,730.69 to the nineteen (19) respondents.

AISA and DMMSU interposed separate appeals. The NLRC, on May 7, 1993, rendered a decision affirming the solidary liability of AISA and DMMSU and remanding the records of the case to the arbitration branch of origin for computation of the salary differential awarded by the Labor Arbiter.

Only AISA filed a motion for reconsideration, which was denied by the NLRC on July 1, 1993, for lack of merit.

In this petition, AISA alleges that payment of the wage increases under the current minimum wage order should be borne exclusively by DMMSU, pursuant to Section 6 of Republic Act 6727 (RA 6727) which reads as follows:

"Sec. 6. In the case of contracts for construction projects and for security, janitorial and similar services, the prescribed increases in the wage rates of the workers shall be borne by the principals or clients of the construction/service contractors and the contract shall be deemed amended accordingly. In the event, however, that the principal or client fails to pay the prescribed wage rates, the construction/service contractor shall be jointly and severally liable with his principal or client."

It further contends that Articles 106, 107 and 109 of the Labor Code generally refer to the failure of the contractor or sub-contractor to pay wages in accordance with the Labor Code with a mandate that failure to pay such wages would make the employer and contractor jointly and severally liable for such payment. AISA insists that the matter involved in the case at bar hinges on wage differentials or wages increases, as prescribed in the aforequoted Section 6 of RA 6727, and not wages in general, as provided by the Labor Code.

Issue:

Whether or not Articles 106, 107 and 109 of the Labor Code generally refer to the failure of the contractor or sub-contractor to pay wages involve only on wage differentials or wages increases (and not wages in general)?

Held:

This interpretation is not acceptable. It is a cardinal rule in statutory construction that in interpreting the meaning and scope of a term used in the law, a careful review of the whole law involved, as well as the intendment of the law, must be made. In fact, legislative intent must be ascertained from a consideration of the statute as a whole, and not of an isolated part or aparticular provision alone.

AISA's solidary liability for the amounts due the security guards finds support in Articles 106, 107 and 109 of the Labor Code.

The joint and several liability of the contractor and the principal is mandated by the Labor Code to ensure compliance with its provisions, including the statutory minimum wage. The contractor is made liable by virtue of his status as direct employer, while the principal becomes the indirect employer of the former's employees for the purpose of paying their wages in the event of failure of the contractor to pay them. This gives the workers ample protection consonant with the labor and social justice provisions of the 1987 Constitution.