TABANGAO SHELL REFINERY EMPLOYEES ASSOCIATION vs. PILIPINAS SHELL PETROLEUM CORPORATION, G.R. No. 170007, April 7, 2014
“x x x.
First, the petition is barred by res judicata in the concept of conclusiveness of judgment.
The concept of conclusiveness of judgment is explained in Nabus v. Court of Appeals30as follows:
The doctrine states that a fact or question which was in issue in a former suit, and was there judicially passed on and determined by a court of competent jurisdiction, is conclusively settled by the judgment therein, as far as concerns the parties to that action and persons in privity with them, and cannot be again litigated in any future action between such parties or their privies, in the same court or any other court of concurrent jurisdiction on either the same or a different cause of action, while the judgment remains unreversed or unvacated by proper authority. The only identities thus required for the operation of the judgment as an estoppel x x x are identity of parties and identity of issues.
It has been held that in order that a judgment in one action can be conclusive as to a particular matter in another action between the same parties or their privies, it is essential that the issues be identical. If a particular point or question is in issue in the second action, and the judgment will depend on the determination of that particular point or question, a former judgment between the same parties [or their privies] will be final and conclusive in the second if that same point or question was in issue and adjudicated in the first suit[.] x x x. (Citations omitted.)
The Decision dated June 8, 2005 of the Secretary of Labor and Employment in the labor dispute over which he assumed jurisdiction, OSEC-AJ-0033-04/NCMB-RBIV-LAG-NS-09-048-04/NCMB-RBIV-LAG-NS-02-004-05, has long attained finality. The union never denied this.
X x x.”
