G.R. No.

112940
DAI-CHI ELECTRONICS MANUFACTURING CORPORATION, petitioner,
vs.
HON. MARTIN S. VILLARAMA, JR., Presiding Judge, Regional Trial Court, Branch
156, Pasig, Metro Manila and ADONIS C. LIMJUCO, respondents.

FACTS:
● Adonis C. Limjuco was a former employee of Dai-chi Electronics.
● In his contract, it says that he was not allowed to seek employment in the same field of
Dai-chi for at least 2 years after resignation or termination.
● He breached his contract when he became an employee of Angel Sound Philippine
Corporation which was in the same line of business as Dai-chi just months after his
employment in Dai-chi was terminated.
● Dai-chi filed a complaint against Limjuco and sought for damages amounting to 100,000
pesos in Pasig Regional Trial Court.
● Judge Villarama, the presiding judge, dismissed the case saying the RTC had no
jurisdiction on this case because it was a case regarding employer-employee relations that
should be taken up in the Labor Arbiter under Article 217 of the Labor Code.
○ Article 217, as amended by Section 9 of R.A. No. 6715, provides as follows:
Jurisdiction of Labor Arbiters and the Commission. — (a) Except as otherwise
provided under this Code, the Labor Arbiters shall have original and exclusive
jurisdiction to hear and decide, within thirty (30) calendar days after the submission
of the case by the parties for decision without extension, even in the absence of
stenographic notes, the following cases involving all workers, whether agricultural or
non-agricultural:
○ xxx xxx xxx
4. Claims for actual, moral, exemplary and other forms of damages arising from
the employer-employee relations; (Emphasis supplied)
○ xxx xxx xxx

● Dai-chi Electronics filed a petition for review on certiorari at the Supreme Court saying
that the complaint is cognizable in courts other than the Labor Arbiter because the issue
is the breach of the contract that was signed by Limjuco and so regular courts have
jurisdiction.
ISSUE:
● Whether or not petitioner's claim for damages one arising from employer-employee
relations? NO
HELD:
ACCORDINGLY, the Orders of the Regional Trial Court dated September 20, 1993 and
November 29, 1993 are SET ASIDE. The trial court is ORDERED to continue with the
proceedings in Civil Case No. 63448.
RATIO:
 Dai-chi only seeks to recover damages for the breach of contractual obligation done by
Limjuco which is in the realm of Civil Law so the jurisdiction is with the regular courts.
Furthermore, the Labor Arbiter takes care of employer-employee relation complaints but this is a
post-employment relation complaint. Jurisprudence is presented to strengthen this claim saying
that even if there is an employer and an employee involved in the case, if the action sought for in
the suit is in the realm of Civil Law, it is cognizable in the regular courts.