GR No. L-37790
March 25, 1976
FACTS:
Cosmos Aerated Water
Factory, a firm based at Malabon, Rizal, appointed petitioner Mafinco as its
sole distributor of Cosmos soft drinks in Manila. Rodrigo Repomanta and Mafinco
executed a peddling contract whereby Repomanta agreed to buy and sell Cosmos
soft drinks. Rey Moralde entered into a similar contract. Months later, Mafinco
terminated the peddling contract with Repomanta and Moralde. Consequently,
Repomanta and Moralde, through their union, filed a complaint with the NLRC,
charging the general manager of Mafinco for illegally dismissing them.4.Mafinco
filed a motion to dismiss the complaint on the ground that the NLRC had no
jurisdiction because Repomanta and Moralde were not its employees but were
independent contractors. It stressed that there was termination of the contract
not a dismissal of an employee.
ISSUE:
Whether or not there exist
an employer-employee relationship between petitioner Mafinco and private
respondents Repomanta and Moralde.
HELD:
The Supreme Court held
that under the peddling contracts, Repomanta and Moralde were not employees of
Mafinco but were independent contractors as found by the NLC and its fact
finder and by the committee appointed by the Secretary of Labor to look into
the status of Cosmos and Mafinco peddlers. A contract whereby one engages to
purchase and sell soft drinks on trucks supplied by the manufacturer but
providing that the other party (peddler) shall have the right to employ his own
workers, shall post a bond to protect the manufacturer against losses, shall be
responsible for damages caused to third persons, shall obtain the necessary
licenses and permits and bear the expenses incurred in the sale of the soft
drinks is not a contract of employment.
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