This Company May Owe Over ₱15M After Taking Back a Job Offer.
The lesson every business owner should learn before sending their next job offer.
Alltech Biotechnology Corporation offered Paolo Aragones a job. After signing the job offer letter, he quit his stable position at Cargill Philippines. Then, before he even showed up for his first day, Alltech took it all back.
Nine years later, the Supreme Court ruled that what happened to Aragones was a case of illegal dismissal.
Now, Alltech may owe over ₱15 million in backwages, separation pay, attorney’s fees, and interest.
In this letter, we’ll break down the exact mistakes Alltech made—so you don’t make the same job offer mistake that could cost your business millions.
Here's What Happened
On April 18, 2016, Paolo Aragones signed a job offer letter from Alltech Biotechnology Corporation for the position of Swine Technical Manager – Pacific. Trusting the deal, he resigned from his stable job at Cargill Philippines. His first day was set for July 1, 2016.
He never made it to Day 1.
In May 2016, Alltech’s head office allegedly implemented a global restructuring. His position was abolished. Alltech sent him a letter, offered him ₱140,000, equivalent to one month’s salary, as a “goodwill gesture,” and told him the deal was off.
Aragones rejected the offer and filed a case. The case moved from the Labor Arbiter, to the NLRC, to the Court of Appeals, and finally, to the Supreme Court.
On April 2, 2025, almost nine years after Aragones signed the job offer, the Supreme Court finally ruled: Alltech illegally dismissed him.
What Alltech Now Owes
Because the Supreme Court ruled this as illegal dismissal, Aragones is entitled to:
Backwages counted from July 1, 2016 — his original start date — all the way until the decision becomes final.
Separation pay of one month per year of service, also starting July 1, 2016.
Attorney’s fees equal to 10% of the total monetary award.
6% interest per year from the time the decision becomes final until fully paid.
Since the original salary offer was around ₱140,000 per month, multiplying that across nearly nine years means the backwages and separation pay alone could easily exceed ₱15 million.
This is a very costly mistake for Alltech. But thanks to them — and Aragones — an important legal questions was answered for your benefit.
The Most Important Legal Question For Your Next Job.
The reason this case was so confusing — even for the courts — is that it touched on a very important question: When does someone become your employee?
Most people assume it’s the employment contract start date, signed and notarized. The NLRC and the Court of Appeals both believed that. They said “no start date, no employment, no case”.
The Supreme Court (SC) disagreed.
Here’s the distinction the SC made: When Aragones signed the offer letter and Alltech received it, the contract was already perfected and the relationship already existed. The July 1 start date only determined when Aragones had to show up and when Alltech had to pay.
Think of it this way: If you agree to rent a space starting next month, you still have a contract today. The landlord can’t just cancel it because you haven’t moved in yet.
The SC also called out Alltech’s redundancy claim. Their only proof was a single, vague affidavit that basically said, “we restructured.”
The Court said that’s not enough. To prove redundancy, you need a lot of documentation — too many to mention here, so it needs another article on its own.
What This Means for You and Your Business
Your main takeaway: The moment a candidate signs your job offer, they are legally your employee.
If you need to cancel a job offer, you can’t just send a letter and offer goodwill money. You now need to follow proper dismissal procedures, like how you would do for an employee who’s already been working for you for years.
If you still don’t have formal HR systems for your company, this should be a wake-up call.
Do you still make hiring decisions over a text message or a handshake?
Do you still send out offer letters without a lawyer reviewing them?
That informal approach just became a lot more expensive.
Here’s what you should be doing now:
First, do not send a job offer unless the position and the budget are 100% locked in.
Second, if you ever need to rescind an offer, get a lawyer involved before you send any communication.
Third, if you’re restructuring or claiming redundancy, document everything — org charts, board decisions, staffing studies.
Fourth, treat your offer letter the same way you treat an employment contract.