AC Enterprises, Inc. v CIAC (Credit Transactions)

G.R. No. 101444 May 9, 1995

A.C. ENTERPRISES, INC., petitioner, vs. CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY ARBITRATION COMMISSION and DEE CONSTRUCTION CORPORATION, respondents.

QUIASON, J.:

FACTS:

THIS IS A SECOND MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION where private respondent insists that it is entitled to interest at the rate of 12% per annum on the monetary award given them by the Construction Industry Arbitration Commission (CIAC). It contends that under Executive Order No. 1008 dated February 4, 1985 and the Rules of Procedure Governing Construction Arbitration, arbitral awards are final and "inappealable (sic)" and pursuant to our ruling in Eastern Shipping Lines, Inc. v. Court of Appeals, 234 SCRA 78 (1994), monetary awards in all judgments that became final and executory, regardless of the nature of the obligation, shall bear legal interest of 12% per annum.

ISSUE: WON AC Enterprises is entitled to the 12% legal interest per annum on the monetary award given them by the CIAC

HELD: NO.

FINAL & EXECUTORY is different from FINAL & INAPPEALABLE. Only in final and executory judgments is the 12% legal interest imposed.

It appears that private respondent equated, and wrongly at that, the term "final and inappealable (sic)" as used in E.O. No. 1008 and the Rules of Procedure Governing Construction Arbitration with the term "final and executory" as used in Eastern Shipping Lines, Inc.

Section 19 of E.O. No. 1008 dated February 4, 1985 provides as follows:

Finality of Awards — The arbitral award shall be binding upon the parties. It shall be final and inappealable (sic) except on questions of law which shall be appealable to the Supreme Court (Emphasis supplied).

Section 2 of Article XVI of the Rules of Procedure Governing Construction Arbitration provides as follows:

Appeals — Pursuant to Section 19 of Executive Order No. 1008 dated 4 February 1985, arbitral awards are final and inappealable (sic) except on questions of law which shall be appealable to the Supreme Court before the award becomes final. An appeal shall not stay the award unless the Supreme Court shall direct otherwise upon such terms as it may deem just. An appeal from an arbitral award or an order/decision of the CIAC shall be perfected by filing with the CIAC a notice of appeal and with the Supreme Court twelve (12) copies of a petition for review of the award, order, or decision complained of within 30 days from notice of such award, order, or decision (Emphasis supplied).

THUS: A "final and inappealable (sic)" judgment is not the same as a "final and executory" one. The former becomes executory only as in the case of an award by the CIAC after the lapse of 30 days from receipt of notice thereof and no petition for review to the Supreme Court is made (Rules of Procedure Governing Construction Arbitration, Art. XVI, Sec. 1).

While the petition for review does not automatically suspend the execution of the award of the CIAC, the Supreme Court may direct a stay of the execution. In the case at bench, the Court issued a temporary restraining order to stay the execution of the award (Resolution, October 14, 1991).

The CIAC award did not become "final and executory" until after service of a copy of the Resolution dated April 8, 1992 of this Court, denying the motion for reconsideration. The award was fully paid to private respondent on May 6, 1992 (Rollo, p. 456). We consider the interest that accrued from April 8 to May 6, 1992, a period of less than a month, as de minimis as to warrant its charging against the award.