George A. Arriola v. Pilipino Star Ngayon

Summary

This Supreme Court case clarifies the prescriptive periods for different types of employment-related claims. George Arriola, a newspaper writer whose column was removed in 1999, filed an illegal dismissal complaint in 2002. The Court distinguished between Article 291 of the Labor Code (three-year prescription for ordinary money claims) and Article 1146 of the Civil Code (four-year prescription for illegal dismissal claims). While ruling that claims for backwages and damages from illegal dismissal had not prescribed, the Court affirmed all lower tribunals' factual findings that Arriola was not illegally dismissed but rather abandoned his employment. The decision establishes important precedent on prescription periods and reinforces that removal of a newspaper column does not constitute dismissal if the employee retains other duties. The case demonstrates the courts' reluctance to overturn consistent factual findings across multiple tribunal levels.