SOUTHEAST ASIAN FISHERIES DEVELOPMENT CENTER-AQUACULTURE W/N SEAFDEC-AQD is immune from suit – YES

DEPARTMENT (SEAFDEC-AQD), DR. FLOR LACANILAO (CHIEF), RUFIL

CUEVAS (HEAD, ADMINISTRATIVE DIV.), BEN DELOS REYES (FINANCE Judgment:
OFFICER) v. NATIONAL LABOR RELATIONS COMMISSION and JUVENAL WHEREFORE, finding SEAFDEC-AQD to be an international agency beyond the jurisdiction
LAZAGA of the courts or local agency of the Philippine government, the questioned decision and
G.R. No. 86773 | February 14, 1992 resolution of the NLRC dated July 26, 1988 and January 9, 1989, respectively, are hereby
Nocon, J. REVERSED and SET ASIDE for having been rendered without jurisdiction. No costs.

Topic: Immunity Ratio:

 SEAFDEC-AQD is an international agency beyond the jurisdiction of NLRC
Facts: o Purpose of SEAFDEC: to contribute to the promotion of the fisheries
 SEAFDEC-AQD is a department of an international organization, the Southeast Asian development in Southeast Asia by mutual co-operation among the member
Fisheries Development Center, organized through an agreement entered into in Bangkok, governments of the Center and through collaboration with international
Thailand on December 28, 1967 by the governments of Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, organizations and governments external to the Center (Agreement
Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines with Japan as the sponsoring country (Article 1, Establishing the SEAFDEC, Art. 1; Annex "H" Petition)
Agreement Establishing the SEAFDEC) o SEAFDEC-AQD was organized during the Sixth Council Meeting of
 April 20, 1975: private respondent Juvenal Lazaga was employed as a Research SEAFDEC on July 3-7, 1973 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as one of the
Associate on a probationary basis by the SEAFDEC-AQD principal departments of SEAFDEC to be established in Iloilo for the
o He was later appointed Senior External Affairs Officer and then appointed to promotion of research in aquaculture
the position of Professional III and designated as Head of External Affairs o Paragraph 1, Article 6 of the Agreement establishing SEAFDEC
Office mandates: “The Council shall be the supreme organ of the Center and all
 May 8, 1986: petitioner Lacanilao in his capacity as Chief of SEAFDEC-AQD sent a powers of the Center shall be vested in the Council.”
notice of termination to Lazaga  Since SEAFDEC is an intergovernmental organization, such organization and
o Said that due to the financial constraints being experienced by the department, its Departments (AQD) enjoys functional independence and freedom from
Lazaga’s services shall be terminated at the close of office hours on May 15, control of the state in whose territory its office is located
1986 and that he is entitled to separation benefits equivalent to 1 month of his  Senator Jovito R. Salonga and Former Chief Justice Pedro L. Yap: “Permanent
basic salary for every year of service plus other benefits international commissions and administrative bodies have been created by the
 SEAFDEC-AQD failed to pay Lazaga his separation pay thus a complaint was filed agreement of a considerable number of States for a variety of international purposes,
against petitioners for non-payment of separation benefits plus moral damages and economic or social and mainly non-political. Among the notable instances are the
attorney's fees with the Arbitration Branch of the NLRC International Labor Organization, the International Institute of Agriculture, the
 Petitioners: alleged that the NLRC has no jurisdiction over the case since SEAFDEC- International Danube Commission. In so far as they are autonomous and beyond
AQD is an international organization and Lazaga must first secure clearances from the the control of any one State, they have a distinct juridical personality
proper departments for property or money accountability before any claim for separation independent of the municipal law of the State where they are situated. As such,
pay will be paid which he had not yet obtained according to one leading authority ‘they must be deemed to possess a species of
 During the formal hearing international personality of their own.’”
o Lazaga: alleged that the non-issuance of the clearances by the petitioners was  Since RP is a signatory to the Agreement, it agreed to be represented by one
politically motivated and in bad faith Director in the governing SEAFDEC Council and that its national laws and
o Petitioners: alleged that Lazaga has property accountability and an outstanding regulations shall apply only insofar as its contribution to SEAFDEC of "an
obligation to SEAFDEC-AQD in the amount of P27,532.11 and he is not agreed amount of money, movable and immovable property and services
entitled to accrued sick leave benefits amounting to P44,000.00 due to his necessary for the establishment and operation of the Center" are concerned
failure to avail of the same during his employment with the SEAFDEC-AQD (Art. 11)
 LA: decided in favor of Lazaga o RP expressly waived the application of the Philippine laws on the
 NLRC: affirmed LA but deleted award of actual damages and attorney's fees disbursement of funds of petitioner SEAFDEC-AQD (Section 2, P.D.
o MR denied No. 292).
 Thus this case  The then Minister of Justice also opined that Philippine Courts have no
o Petitioners allege that the NLRC has no jurisdiction to hear and decide jurisdiction over SEAFDEC-AQD in Opinion No. 139, Series of 1984 — “One of
Lazaga's complaint since SEAFDEC-AQD is immune from suit owing to the basic immunities of an international organization is immunity from local
its international character and the complaint is in effect a suit against the jurisdiction, i.e., that it is immune from the legal writs and processes issued by the
State which cannot be maintained without its consent tribunals of the country where it is found. (See Jenks, Id., pp. 37-44) The obvious
reason for this is that the subjection of such an organization to the authority of
Issue/s: the local courts would afford a convenient medium thru which the host
 government may interfere in their operations or even influence or control its
policies and decisions of the organization; besides, such subjection to local
jurisdiction would impair the capacity of such body to discharge its
responsibilities impartially on behalf of its member-states. In the case at bar, for
instance, the entertainment by the National Labor Relations Commission of Mr.
Madamba's reinstatement cases would amount to interference by the Philippine
Government in the management decisions of the SEARCA governing board; even
worse, it could compromise the desired impartiality of the organization since it will
have to suit its actuations to the requirements of Philippine law, which may not
necessarily coincide with the interests of the other member-states. It is precisely to
forestall these possibilities that in cases where the extent of the immunity is
specified in the enabling instruments of international organizations, jurisdictional
immunity from the host country is invariably among the first accorded.”
 Lazaga's invocation of estoppel on the issue of jurisdiction is unavailing because
estoppel does not apply to confer jurisdiction to a tribunal that has none over a
cause of action
o Jurisdiction is conferred by law and where there is none, no
agreement of the parties can provide one
o Rule: the decision of a tribunal not vested with appropriate
jurisdiction is null and void
 NLRC's citation of the ruling in Lacanilao v. De Leon to justify its assumption of
jurisdiction over SEAFDEC is misplaced
o On the contrary, the Court in said case explained why it took cognizance
of the case: “We would note, finally, that the present petition relates to a
controversy between two claimants to the same position; this is not a
controversy between the SEAFDEC on the one hand, and an officer or
employee, or a person claiming to be an officer or employee, of the
SEAFDEC, on the other hand. There is before us no question involving
immunity from the jurisdiction of the Court, there being no plea for such
immunity whether by or on behalf of SEAFDEC, or by an official of
SEAFDEC with the consent of SEAFDEC”