Bienvenido Ongkingco V NLRC

BIENVENIDO ONGKINGCO, as President and GALERIA DE MAGALLANES CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION,
INC., v. NLRC
G.R. No. 119877. March 31, 1997 (KAPUNAN, J.:)
DOCTRINE:
“A corporate officer's dismissal is always a corporate act and/or an intra-corporate controversy and that nature
is not altered by the reason or wisdom which the Board of Directors may have in taking such action.”
FACTS:
Petitioner Galeria de Magallanes Condominium Association, Inc. (Galeria) is a non-stock, non-profit
corporation formed in accordance with R.A. No. 4726, otherwise known as the Condominium Act, whose primary
purpose is to hold title to the common areas of the Galeria de Magallanes Condominium Project and to manage and
administer the same for the use and convenience of the residents and/or owners." Petitioner Bienvenido Ongkingco was
the president of Galeria at the time private respondent filed his complaint.
Galeria's Board of Directors appointed private respondent Federico B. Guilas as Administrator/Superintendent

(monthly salary of P10,000). As Administrator, private respondent was tasked with the maintenance of the
"performance and elegance of the common areas of the condominium and external appearance of the compound
thereof for the convenience and comfort of the residents as well as to keep up the quality image, and hence the value of
the investment for the owners thereof."
However, on 17 March 1992, through a resolution passed by the Board of Directors of Galeria, private
respondent was not re-appointed as Administrator. As a result, Guilas instituted a complaint against petitioners for
illegal dismissal and non-payment of salaries with the NLRC. Ongkingco filed a motion to dismiss alleging that it is the
SEC, and not the labor arbiter, which has jurisdiction over the subject matter of the complaint. LA granted the motion
to dismiss. NLRC reversed the LA.
ISSUE:
Is Guilas a corporate officer or a mere employee?
Does the case fall under the exclusive jurisdiction of the SEC?
RULING:
Specifically delineated in P.D. 902-A are the cases over which the SEC exercises exclusive jurisdiction:
“c) Controversies in the election or appointment of directors, trustees, officers, or managers of such corporations,
partnerships or associations.”
Guilas is an officer of petitioner corporation and not its mere employee cannot be questioned. The by-laws of the
Galeria de Magallanes Condominium Association specifically includes the Superintendent/Administrator in its roster of
corporate officers: “Section 1. Executive Officers The Executive officers of the corporation shall be a President, a Vice
President, a Treasurer, all of whom shall be elected by the Board of Directors. They may be removed with or without
cause at any meeting by the concurrence of four directors. The Board of Directors may appoint a Superintendent or
Administrator and such other officers and employees and delineate their powers and duties as the Board shall find
necessary to manage the affairs of the corporation.”
Under the recent case of Tabang v. NLRC, the president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer are commonly
regarded as the principal or executive officers of a corporation, and modern corporation statutes usually designate them
as the officers of the corporation. However, other offices are sometimes created by the charter or by-laws of a
corporation, or the board of directors may be empowered under the by-laws of a corporation to create additional offices
as may be necessary. It has been held that an "office" is created by the charter of the corporation and the officer is
elected by the directors or stockholders. On the other hand, an "employee" usually occupies no office and generally is
employed not by action of the directors or stockholders but by the managing officer of the corporation who also
determines the compensation to be paid to such employee.
Also, under the case of Lozon v. NLRC and Espino v. NLRC, the Court held that acorporate officer's dismissal is
always a corporate act and/or an intra-corporate controversy and that nature is not altered by the reason or wisdom
which the Board of Directors may have in taking such action.
In the present case, Guilas was indeed a corporate officer. He was appointed directly by the Board of Directors not
by any managing officer of the corporation and his salary was, likewise, set by the same Board. Having thus determined,
his dismissal or non-appointment is clearly an intra-corporate matter and jurisdiction, therefore, properly belongs to
the SEC and not the NLRC.
Guilas also attack the SEC's jurisdiction over the instant case on grounds that Guilas was not elected by the Board
of Directors but was merely appointed. This particular argument baffles us. P.D. 902-A cannot be any clearer. Sec. 5(c)
of said law expressly covers both election and appointment of corporate directors, trustees, officers and managers.
It is of no consequence, likewise, that the complaint of private respondent for illegal dismissal includes money
claims, jurisdiction remains with the SEC as ruled in the case of Cagayan de Oro Coliseum, Inc. v. Office of the MOLE, a
close scrutiny thereof shows that said claims are actually part of the perquisites of his position in, and therefore
interlinked with his relations with the corporation. In Dy vs. NLRC, the Court said: "(t)he question of remuneration
involving as it does, a person who is not a mere employee but a stockholder and officer, an integral part, it might be
said, of the corporation, is not a simple labor problem but a matter that comes within the area of corporate affairs and,
management, and is in fact a corporate controversy in contemplation of the Corporation Code."

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BIENVENIDO ONGKINGCO, as President and GALERIA DE MAGALLANES CONDOMINIUM ASSOCIATION,

Galeria's Board of Directors appointed private respondent Federico B. Guilas as Administrator/Superintendent

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