Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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* SECOND DIVISION.
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BRION, J.:
Before this Court is the petition for review on certiorari1
filed by petitioner Stanfilco Employees Agrarian Reform
Beneficiaries Multi-Purpose Cooperative (SEARBEMCO).
It assails:
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26 SUPREME COURT REPORTS ANNOTATED
Stanfilco Employees Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries Multi-
Purpose Cooperative vs. Dole Philippines, INC. (Stanfilco
Division)
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IX. ARBITRATION OF DISPUTE
All disputes arising in connection with this Agreement shall be
finally settled under the Rules of Conciliation and Arbitration of the
International Chamber of Commerce by three (3) Arbitrators
appointed in accordance with said Rules. The Arbitration shall be
held in a venue to be agreed by the parties. Judgment upon the
award rendered may be entered in any Philippine Court having
jurisdiction or application may be made to such court for judicial
acceptance of the award and as order of enforcement, as the case
may be.‰
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The CA Ruling
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under Section 5 (c) (i) and (ii) of DAR AO No. 2-99;23 hence,
any dispute arising from the BPPA is within the exclusive
jurisdiction of the DARAB. SEARBEMCO also asserts that
the partiesÊ relationship in the present case is not only that
of buyer and seller, but also that of supplier of land covered
by the CARP and of manpower on the part of
SEARBEMCO, and supplier of agricultural inputs,
financing and technological expertise on the part of DOLE.
Therefore, SEARBEMCO concludes that the BPPA is not
an ordinary contract, but one that involves an agrarian
element and, as such, is imbued with public interest.
We clarify at the outset that what we are reviewing in
this petition is the legal question of whether the CA
correctly ruled that the RTC committed no grave abuse of
discretion in denying SEARBEMCOÊs motion to dismiss. In
ruling for legal correctness, we have to view the CA
decision in the same context that the petition for certiorari
it ruled upon was presented to the appellate court; we have
to examine the CA decision from the prism of whether it
correctly determined the presence or absence of grave
abuse of discretion in the RTC ruling before it, not on the
basis of whether the RTC ruling on the merits of the case
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36 Supra note 9.
37 Section 10. Resolution of Disputes.·As a rule, voluntary
methods, such as mediation or conciliation and arbitration, shall be
preferred in resolving disputes involving joint economic enterprises. The
specific modes of resolving disputes shall be stipulated in the contract,
and should the parties fail to do so, the procedures herein shall apply.
The aggrieved party shall first request the other party to submit the
matter to mediation or conciliation by trained mediators or conciliators
from DAR, non-government organizations (NGOs), or the private sector
chosen by them.
Where the dispute cannot be resolved through mediation or
conciliation, it may be submitted to arbitration by the parties in
accordance with RA 876, as amended, also known as the „Arbitration
Law,‰ unless otherwise specified by the parties. The decision of the
arbitrators shall be binding upon them as agreed by the parties. They
may opt to submit the dispute directly to arbitration without going
through mediation or conciliation xxx.
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Petition denied.
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