In Sime Darby Pilipinas, Inc. v. Deputy Administrator Magsalin,[4] we ruled that the voluntary arbitrator had plenary jurisdiction and authority to interpret the agreement to arbitrate and to determine the scope of his own authority – subject only, in a proper case, to the certiorari jurisdiction of this Court. In that case, the specific issue presented was “the issue of performance bonus.” We then held that the arbitrator had the authority to determine not only the issue of whether or not a performance bonus was to be granted, but also the related question of the amount of bonus, were it to be granted. We then said that there was no indication at all that the parties to the arbitration agreement had regarded “the issue of performance bonus” as a two-tiered issue, only one aspect of which was being submitted to arbitration; thus, we held that the failure of the parties to specifically limit the issues to that which was stated allowed the arbitrator to assume jurisdiction over the related issue.
A more recent case is Ludo & Luym Corporation v. Saornido.[5] In that case, we recognized that voluntary arbitrators are generally expected to decide only those questions expressly delineated by the submission agreement; that, nevertheless, they can assume that they have the necessary power to make a final settlement on the related issues, since arbitration is the final resort for the adjudication of disputes. Thus, we ruled that even if the specific issue brought before the arbitrators merely mentioned the question of “whether an employee was discharged for just cause,” they could reasonably assume that their powers extended beyond the determination thereof to include the power to reinstate the employee or to grant back wages. In the same vein, if the specific issue brought before the arbitrators referred to the date of regularization of the employee, law and jurisprudence gave them enough leeway as well as adequate prerogative to determine the entitlement of the employees to higher benefits in accordance with the finding of regularization. Indeed, to require the parties to file another action for payment of those benefits would certainly undermine labor proceedings and contravene the constitutional mandate providing full protection to labor and speedy labor justice.
Consequently, could the PVA herein view that the issue presented before it – the question of the validity of the transfer order – necessarily included the question of respondent Delada’s insubordination and willful disobedience of the transfer order?
Pursuant to the doctrines in Sime Darby Pilipinas and Ludo & Luym Corporation, the PVA was authorized to assume jurisdiction over the related issue of insubordination and willful disobedience of the transfer order. Nevertheless, the doctrine in the aforementioned cases is inapplicable to the present Petition. In those cases, the voluntary arbitrators did in fact assume jurisdiction over the related issues and made rulings on the matter. In the present case, however, the PVA did not make a ruling on the specific issue of insubordination and willful disobedience of the transfer order. The PVA merely said that its disagreement with the 90-day penalty of suspension stemmed from the fact that the penalty went beyond the 30-day limit for preventive suspension:
But to us, what militates against the validity of Delada’s preventive suspension is the fact that it went beyond the 30-day period prescribed by the Implementing Rules of the Labor Code (Section 4, Rules XIV, Book V). The preventive suspension of Delada is supposed to expire on 09 June 2007, but without notifying Delada, the MPH proceeded to impose a separate penalty of 90-days suspension to him which took effect only on 18 June 2007, or way beyond the 30-day rule mandated by the Rules. While the intention of the MPH is to impose the 90-day suspension as a separate penalty against Delada, the former is already proscribed from doing so because as of 05 June 2007, the dispute at hand is now under the exclusive jurisdiction of the panel of arbitrators. In fact, by its own admission, the MPH categorically stated in its Position Paper that as of 25 May 2007, or before the suspension order was issued, MPH and Delada had already formulated and submitted the issues for arbitration. For all legal intents and purposes, therefore, the MPH has now relinquished its authority to suspend Delada because the issue at this juncture is now within the Panel’s ambit of jurisdiction. MPH’s authority to impose disciplinary action to Delada must now give way to the jurisdiction of this panel of arbitrators to rule on the issues at hand. By necessary implication, this Panel is thus constrained to declare both the preventive suspension and the separate suspension of 90-days meted to Delada to be not valid and justified.[6]
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