PRIL Overseas Employment Contract 95

Suzara vs Benipayo (1989)

Facts:
1. Suzara et al entered into employment contracts with Magsaysay lines to work aboard
vessels owned/operated/manned by the latter for a period of 12 calendar months and
with different rating/position, salary, overtime pay and allowance. The contracts were
approved by the National Seamen Board.
2. Upon arrival at the port of Vancouver, Canada, demands for increase in wages were
made through the help of the International Transport Workers Federation (ITF), a
militant worldwide especially in Canada, Australia, Scandinavia, and various
European countries, interdicting foreign vessels and demanding wage increases for
third world seamen.
3. Wages were increased but complaints were filed by Magsaysay before the NSB. NSB
ordered the return of the additional wages paid for being obtained thru violent means
and for lacking NSB approval. NLRC affirmed the order.
4. Meanwhile, Magsaysay filed estafa charges against the seamen.
5. In this petition, the seamen seeks for the reversal of the NLRC decision and the
quashal of the complaints for estafa.
Issue:
Whether the increase in wages needed the approval of the NSB to be legal (NO)
Ratio:
1. There is nothing in the record supporting the finding that the workers resorted to
violent means to obtain an increase in their wages.
2. It is impractical for the NSB to require the petitioners, caught in the middle of a labor
struggle between the ITF and owners of ocean going vessels halfway around the
world in Vancouver, British Columbia to first secure the approval of the NSB in Manila
before signing an agreement which the employer was willing to sign
3. Accdg to the case of Vir-Jen: The form contracts approved by the National Seamen
Board are designed to protect Filipino seamen not foreign shipowners who can take
care of themselves. The standard forms embody the basic minimums which must be
incorporated as parts of the employment contract. (Section 15, Rule V, Rules and
Regulations Implementing the Labor Code).lwph1.t They are not collective
bargaining agreements or immutable contracts which the parties cannot improve
upon or modify in the course of the agreed period of time
4. The NSB, the Department of Labor and Employment and all its agencies exist
primarily for the workingman's interest and the nation's as a whole.
Digested by Rea A2015