Filamer vs IAC August 17, 1992

NOTE: This case reversed Filamer vs IAC (October 16, 1990)

Daniel Funtecha was a working student of Filamer. He was assigned as the school
janitor to clean the school 2 hours every morning. Allan Masa was the son of the
school president and at the same time he was the schools jeepney service driver.
On October 20, 1977 at about 6:30pm, after driving the students to their homes,
Masa returned to the school to report and thereafter have to go home with the jeep
so that he could fetch the students early in the morning. Masa and Funtecha live in
the same place so they usually go home together. Funtecha had a student drivers
license so Masa let him take the drivers seat. While Funtecha was driving, he
accidentally hit an elderly Kapunan which led to his hospitalization for 20 days.
Kapunan filed a criminal case and an independent civil action based on Article 2180
against Funtecha.
In the independent civil action, the lower court ruled that Filamer is subsidiarily
liable for the tortious act of Funcheta and was compelled to pay for damages based
on Article 2180 which provides that employers shall be liable for the damages
caused by their employees and household helpers acting within the scope of their
assigned tasks. Filamer assailed the decision and it argued that under Section 14,
Rule X, Book III of the Labor Code IRR, working scholars are excluded from the
employment coverage hence there is no employer-employee relations between
Filamer and Funcheta; that the negligent act of Funcheta was due to negligence
only attributable to him alone as it is outside his assigned task of being the school
janitor. The CA denied Filamers appeal but the Supreme Court agreed with Filamer.
Kapunan filed for a motion for reconsideration.
ISSUE: Whether or not Filamer should be held subsidiarily liable.
HELD: Yes. This time, the SC ruled in favor of Kapunan (actually his heirs cause by
this time Kapunan was already dead). The provisions of Section 14, Rule X, Book III
of the Labor Code IRR was only meant to provide guidelines as compliance with
labor provisions on working conditions, rest periods, and wages is concerned. This
does not in any way affect the provisions of any other laws like the civil code. The
IRR cannot defeat the provisions of the Civil Code. In other words, Rule X is merely a
guide to the enforcement of the substantive law on labor. There is a distinction
hence Section 14, Rule X, Book III of the Rules is not the decisive law in a civil suit
for damages instituted by an injured person during a vehicular accident against a
working student of a school and against the school itself.
The present case does not deal with a labor dispute on conditions of employment
between an alleged employee and an alleged employer. It invokes a claim brought
by one for damages for injury caused by the patently negligent acts of a person,
against both doer-employee and his employer. Hence, the reliance on the
implementing rule on labor to disregard the primary liability of an employer under
Article 2180 of the Civil Code is misplaced. An implementing rule on labor cannot be
used by an employer as a shield to void liability under the substantive provisions of
the Civil Code.

Funtecha is an employee of Filamer. He need not have an official appointment for a

drivers position in order that Filamer may be held responsible for his grossly
negligent act, it being sufficient that the act of driving at the time of the incident
was for the benefit of Filamer (the act of driving the jeep from the school to Masas
house is beneficial to the school because this enables Masa to do a timely school
transportation service in the morning). Hence, the fact that Funtecha was not the
school driver or was not acting with the scope of his janitorial duties does not
relieve Filamer of the burden of rebutting the presumption juris tantum that there
was negligence on its part either in the selection of a servant or employee, or in the
supervision over him. Filamer has failed to show proof of its having exercised the
required diligence of a good father of a family over its employees Funtecha and
Allan.