Regular employees perform work necessary, desirable in employer's business

Public respondent had found the private respondent-drivers, dispatchers and mechanic-to be regular employees, and, as mentioned earlier, petitioners yielded to said ruling, terming it "tinged with reason and authority." But even if they had not conceded thus, it is obvious that public respondent is correct. The rationale for this ruling is simply that the complainants/private respondents were unarguably performing work necessary and desirable in the business of SMJS. Without the services rendered by private respondents, petitioners could not have conducted their business of providing transportation services within the naval base. This plus the fact that private respondents had each rendered from two to eight years of service cause them to come squarely within the ambit of Art. 280 of the Labor Code; beyond dispute, they were not only employees, but regular employees, as correctly held by public respondent. [G.R. No. 92772. November 28, 1996]