Consti - Ablaza V Cir

ABLAZA v.
CIR
SYLLABUS
1. REMEDIAL LAW; CIVIL PROCEDURE; JURISDICTION OVER THE
PERSON OF A DEFENDANT; ACQUISITION.
Jurisdiction over the person of the defendant in a civil case is acquired
either by his voluntary appearance in court and his submission to its
authority or by service of summons.
2. ID.; ID.; SUMMONS; MODE OF SERVICE UPON ASSOCIATES IN
BUSINESS SUED UNDER A COMMON NAME.
The petitioners contentions have no merit. Section 9, Rule 14 of the
Revised Rules of Court provides that when persons associated in business
are sued under a common name, service may be effected upon all the
defendants by serving upon any one of them or upon the person in charge of
the office or place of business maintained in the common name.
Since petitioner Ablasa Uy and Chuan Uy were doing business under the
common name Cerisco Blackcat Trading, the service of summons made
upon the person in charge of the office or place of business maintained in
the common name was adequate.
This is specially true in this case where the plaintiffs are poor laborers who
are entitled under the Constitution to State protection and who are only
seeking the legitimate fruits of their employment from an employer.
The petitioner always transacted business as Cerisco Blackcat Trading.

All papers, documents, products, and receipts issued by the petitioners
business bore the name Cerisco Blackcat Trading. Since the laborers were
working for a firm known as Cerisco Blackcat Trading, it was natural and
understandable why they should sue their employer through the common
name used by the owners in their business.
The controlling principle in the interpretation of procedural rules is one of
liberality that they may promote their object and assist the parties in
obtaining just, speedy, and inexpensive determination of every action and
proceeding (Section 2, Rules of Court).
When the rules are applied to labor cases. The interpretation must proceed
in accordance with the liberal spirit of the labor laws (See Malate Taxicab
and Garage, Inc. v. Court of Industrial Relations, Et Al., 99 Phil. 41).
The Court of Industrial Relations was created as an instrument to carry out
the legislative policies embodied in the Industrial Peace Act pursuant to the
constitutional mandates in Section 5, Article II on social justice and Section
6, Article XIV on protection to labor, both sections in the then applicable
1935 Constitution.
Without in any way depriving the employer of his legal rights, the thrust of
statutes and rules governing CIR cases has been to benefit laborers and
workers and avoid subjecting them to greater delays and hardships.
(Permanent Concrete Products, Inc., Et. Al. v. Frivaldo, 109 Phil. 4O4).
3. ID.; ID.; ID.; PURPOSE.

The purpose of summons is give notice to the defendant or respondent
that an action has been commenced against him. The defendant or
respondent is thus put on guard as to the demands of the plaintiffs or
petitioners.
5. ID.; CIVIL PROCEDURE; ACTION; PRAYER; SCOPE.

The prayer asked for wage differentials pursuant to the statutory
minimum wage law, overtime pay, reinstatement, and backwages.
4. ID.; RULES OF COURT; LIBERALITY; CONTROLLING PRINCIPLE

IN THE INTERPRETATION OF PROCEDURAL RULES; SIMILAR
SPIRIT OBSERVED WHEN APPLIED TO LABOR CASES.
Likewise, payment for maternity leave may be deemed included in the

abovecited prayer. In fact, there was no amendment to speak of in the case
at bar. All that private respondents did was to introduce evidence tending to
prove claims which were necessarily included in their prayer.
The payment for services rendered on Sundays or on legal holidays

necessarily included in the prayer for overtime pay beyond the eights hours.
MELENCIO- HERRERA, J., concurring:

1. REMEDIAL LAW; CIVIL PROCEDURE SUMMONS; WHEN
AMENDMENT ALLOWED; SERVICE OF SUMMONS UPON PERSON
IN CHARGE OF PLACE OF BUSINESS IN THE COMMON NAME,
ADEQUATE.
The summons directed to Cerisco Blackcat Trading was detective in that
it did not include petitioner as defendant in the Court below. The defect,
however, could have been cure by amending the name of the defendant in
the title to read "Victoria Ablaza, doing business under the name and
trademark Cerisco Blackcat Trading," since the intention was to sue the
owner of the business enterprise.
Amendment is allowed in cases where it appears that the plaintiff intended,
in fact, to act against the individual doing business rather than against the
business entity which the individual was operating (ALR Fed 513. 516,
530).
The ownership of Cerisco Blackcat Trading could have been verified from
the proper government agency.
Nonetheless, under Section 9, Rule 14, service of summons upon the person
in charge of the place of business in the common name, as was done in this
case, was adequate.
Facts : 36 workers filed a complaint through Association of Democratic
Labor Organization for salary differentials pursuant to the statutory
minimum wage law, overtime pay and reinstatement with back wages.
Respondent court granted the complaint and issued a writ of execution
against Cerisco Blackat Trading owned by Petitioner Victoria Ablaza Uy,
Hence the petitioner denied and filed a motion for certiorari against the
respondent court. Petitioner contended that Cerisco Trading is a mere trade
name belonging to herein petitioner, and this trade name is not a juridical
person nor entity capable of suing or being sued in any court pursuant to
sections 1 and 2 of Rule 3 of the Revised Rules of Court and petitioners was
never informed of such complaint.
The main issue raised is jurisdiction. The petitioner maintains that since the
complaint filed with the respondent court was against Cerisco Blackcat
Trading as sole respondent and the body of the complaint makes no mention
whatsoever of Victoria Ablaza, the petitioner was not duly served with
summons.
Jurisdiction over the person of the defendant in civil cases is acquired either
by his voluntary appearance in court and his submission to its authority or
by service of summons.
The petitioners contentions have no merit. Section 9, Rule 14 of the
Revised Rules of Court provides that when persons associated in business
are sued under a common name, service may be effected upon all the
defendants by serving upon any one of them or upon the person in charge of
the office or place of business maintained in the common name. Since
petitioner Ablaza Uy and Chuan Uy were doing business under the common
name Cerisco Blackcat Trading, the service of summons made upon the
person in charge of the office or place of business maintained in the
common name was adequate.
This is specially true in this case where the plaintiffs are poor laborers who
are entitled under the Constitution to State protection and who are only
seeking the legitimate fruits of their employment from an employer.
The petitioner always transacted business as Cerisco Blackcat Trading.
All papers, documents, products, and receipts issued by the petitioners
business bore the name Cerisco Blackcat Trading. Since the laborers were
working for a firm known as Cerisco Blackcat Trading, it was natural and
understandable why they should sue their employer through the common
name used by the owners in their business. The controlling principle in the
interpretation of procedural rules is one of liberality that they may promote
their object and assist the parties in obtaining just, speedy, and inexpensive
determination of every action and proceeding. (Section 2, Rule 1, Rules of
Court.)
When the rules are applied to labor cases, the interpretation must proceed in
accordance with the liberal spirit of the labor laws.
The Court of Industrial Relations was created as an instrument to carry out

the legislative policies embodied in the Industrial Peace Act pursuant to the
constitutional mandates in Section 5, Article II on social justice and Section
6, Article XIV on protection to labor, both sections in the then applicable
1935 Constitution. Without in any way depriving the employer of his legal
rights, the thrust of statutes and rules governing CIR cases has been to
benefit laborers and workers and avoid subjecting them to greater delays
and hardships.
The purpose of summons is to give notice to the defendant or respondent
that an action has been commenced against him. The defendant or
respondent is thus put on guard as to the demands of the plaintiffs or
petitioners.
The records indicate beyond doubt that the respondent in the case before the
CIR was adequately given the necessary notice and that the owners of
Cerisco Blackcat Trading deliberately avoided acknowledgment of the
service of summons. The officers return at the back of the summons reads:
"On Sept. 8, 1969 a.m. the undersigned went to the given address to serve
this Summon to the President/Owner/and Gen. Manager of the Cerisco
Blackcat Trading, I met a certain Mr. R. Cruz (Mechanic of the respondent
company) and I introduced myself as representative of the Court (CIR) and
I asked the whereabouts of the president/manager/owner of the respondent
company. He (R. Cruz) told me that Miss/Mrs. Ablaza is out. And also I
asked him (Mr. R. Cruz) who is taking over just in case the
owner/president/gen. manager is out and he told me that he is the one taking
over, and I gave this Summons to him (Mr. R. Cruz) for and in behalf of the
president/owner/gen. manager of the Cerisco Blackcat Trading."

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ABLAZA v.

The petitioner always transacted business as Cerisco Blackcat Trading.

3. ID.; ID.; ID.; PURPOSE.

5. ID.; CIVIL PROCEDURE; ACTION; PRAYER; SCOPE.

4. ID.; RULES OF COURT; LIBERALITY; CONTROLLING PRINCIPLE

Likewise, payment for maternity leave may be deemed included in the

The payment for services rendered on Sundays or on legal holidays

MELENCIO- HERRERA, J., concurring:

The Court of Industrial Relations was created as an instrument to carry out

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