MEL V. VELARDE v. LOPEZ, INC. 419 SCRA 422, 14 January 2004

MEL V. VELARDE v. LOPEZ, INC.

419 SCRA 422, 14 January 2004

Corporation Law Case Digest by John Paul C. Ladiao (15 March 2016)

(Topic: Right to bring action, acquire and possess property --- relate with Art. 46 of NCC)

FACTS:

On January 6, 1997, Eugenio Lopez Jr., then President of respondent Lopez, Inc., as LENDER, and petitioner Mel Velarde, then General Manager of Sky Vision Corporation (Sky Vision), a subsidiary of respondent, as BORROWER, forged a notarized loan agreement covering the amount of ten million (P10,000,000.00) pesos.

In his answer, petitioner alleged that the loan agreement did not reflect his true agreement with respondent, it being merely a cover document to evidence the reward to him of ten million pesos (P10,000,000.00) for his loyalty and excellent performance as General Manager of Sky Vision and that the payment, if any was expected, was in the form of continued service; and that it was when he was compelled by respondent to retire that the form of payment agreed upon was rendered impossible, prompting the late Eugenio Lopez, Jr. to agree that his retirement benefits from Sky Vision would instead be applied to the loan.

By Order of January 3, 2000, Branch 155 of the RTC of Pasig denied respondents motion to dismiss the counterclaim on the following premises: A counterclaim being essentially a complaint, the principle that a motion to dismiss hypothetically admits the allegations of the complaint is applicable; the counterclaim is compulsory, hence, within its jurisdiction; and there is identity of interest between respondent and Sky Vision to merit the piercing of the veil of corporate fiction.

Respondents motion for reconsideration of the trial courts Order of January 3, 2000 having been denied, it filed a Petition for Certiorari at the Court of Appeals which held that respondent is not the real party-in-interest on the counterclaim and that there was failure to show the presence of any of the circumstances to justify the application of the principle of piercing the veil of corporate fiction.

ISSUE:

Whether or not the defendant in a complaint for collection of sum of money can raise a counterclaim for retirement benefits, unpaid salaries and incentives, and other benefits arising from services rendered by him in a subsidiary of the Lopez Inc., Sky Vision, was a mere business conduit or alter ego of the former, thus, justifying the piercing of the veil of corporate fiction?

HELD:

No.

With regard to petitioners claim for unpaid salaries, unpaid share in net income, reasonable return on the stock ownership plan and other benefits for services rendered to Sky Vision, jurisdiction thereon pertains to the Securities Exchange Commission even if the complaint by a corporate officer includes money claims since such claims are actually part of the prerequisite of his position and, therefore, interlinked with his relations with the corporation.  The question of remuneration involving a person who is not a mere employee but a stockholder and officer of the corporation is not a simple labor problem but a matter that comes within the area of corporate affairs and management, and is in fact a corporate controversy in contemplation of the Corporation Code.

Petitioner argues nevertheless that jurisdiction over the subsidiary is justified by piercing the veil of corporate fiction. Piercing the veil of corporate fiction is warranted, however, only in cases when the separate legal entity is used to defeat public convenience, justify wrong, protect fraud, or defend crime, such that in the case of two corporations, the law will regard the corporations as merged into one.