POEA Rules on petitions for review, motions for reconsideration

Book VI is entitled Recruitment Violation and Related Cases, while Rule IV (Review) thereof provides the procedure and mechanisms of an appeal from an order of the POEA in recruitment violation cases. Section 1 of Rule IV vests exclusive jurisdiction to review the said cases upon the Secretary of Labor and Employment, while Sections 2 and 3 of Rule IV declare: Section 2. When to file. Petitions for review shall be filed within ten (10) calendar days from receipt of the Order by the parties. All Motions for Reconsideration shall be treated as a petition for review. Section 3. Effects of Filing a Petition for Review. The filing of a petition for review shall not automatically stay the execution of the order of suspension unless restrained by the Secretary. It is thus clear that under the 1991 POEA Rules and Regulations, Hishams Motion for the Reconsideration of the Order of 28 November 1990 on the administrative aspect of the case (recruitment, etc.) was to be treated as a petition for review which should have been resolved by the Secretary of Labor and Employment. We agree, however, with the POEA that the questioned Order of 10 February 1994, taken in its entirety, only pertains to the 28 November 1990 Order on the administrative aspect (recruitment) of the case. Any vague reference to the subject or merits of the Decision of 28 November 1990 cannot modify nor amend the Decision which had long become final and already the subject of a writ of execution. Such reference is, at worst, merely imprecise statements which cannot alter the final character of the Decision. [G.R. No. 114132. November 14, 1996]