PAL SEEKS POLICE SECURITY FOR STAFF / SC RECALLS ORDER DECLARING ILLEGAL FIRING
MANILA, OCTOBER 11, 2011 (MALAYA) PHILIPPINE Airlines management yesterday requested the Aviation Security Group and Southern Police District to beef up police presence in and around the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 2 in the wake of harassment complaints and acts of violence against its volunteers and service providers.
"We deplore, in the strongest possible terms, the harassment perpetrated by former PAL employees against our volunteers and service providers. These workers selflessly share their time and skills to keep PAL flying. They deserve protection from authorities," the airline said in a statement.
PAL management said it received numerous complaints and is documenting all cases of verbal abuse and, in some instances, damage to vehicles of PAL volunteers and former union members who decided to join PAL's new service providers.
"This morning, ex-PAL employees led by former PALEA leaders, stormed Charter House Hotel in Makati with a very open and clear intention of harassing PAL volunteers from various outstations," PAL said.
The company stressed that PAL volunteers from its provincial stations – composed of licensed ground equipment operators – are legitimate workers performing official functions.
"These volunteers want to help PAL and the riding public that's why they volunteered during the transition period. They are the workers who quietly toil everyday to ensure that PAL continues to fly. PALEA wants them to leave their posts because it's now obvious that these skilled volunteers are competent and licensed to operate PAL's ground equipment contrary to PALEA's repeated claims," the airline added.
PAL also asked the police to watch out for former PAL employees who take buses and jeepneys en route to NAIA Terminal 2 with the objective of heaping verbal abuse on PAL workers and volunteers on their way to work.
SC recalls order declaring illegal PAL firing of cabin crew BY EVANGELINE DE VERA MALAYA
THE Supreme Court has recalled a recent ruling which declared as illegal the retrenchment of some 1,400 cabin crew personnel of the Philippine Airlines in 1998 at the height of the flag carrier's financial woes.
In what could be an unprecedented move, the high court admitted a "procedural lapse" in the issuance of a resolution promulgated by the Second Division on Sept. 7, 2011 that junked PAL's second motion for reconsideration.
The September 7 resolution affirmed the July 22, 2008 decision of the SC Special Third Division in favor of petitioners Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (Fasap).
Court spokesman Jose Midas Marquez said a new resolution was issued by the SC revoking the September 7 resolution, saying there had been a misapplication of the rules in the passing on of cases from a regular division to a special division when the original members retired from the judiciary.
"This is an isolated case. There was an apparent mix-up. It was supposed to be decided by a special division, not by a regular division. To my recollection, this is the first time we encountered something like this. So the en banc decided to accept the case and order it re-raffled to a new member-in-charge. The en banc decided to take up the case to avoid further confusion in this case," he said.
The case was first decided by Associate Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, former chair of the SC Third Division. The first motion for reconsideration was resolved by the Second Division, also under Santiago.
When Ynares-Santiago retired in 2009, the case was left with the special division, some of whose members had also retired, until it found its way to the Second Division, which rendered the Sept. 7, 2011 ruling under the chairmanship of Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio.
Based on the internal rules of the court, any case left by retired justices should be resolved by a special division.
Marquez said the recall of the ruling does not mean that there is something wrong with the previous decision. He said the court en banc is expected to decide on all issues on the case.
"What could have happened – I'm not saying this is what really happened since the court will still look into it – was that a regular member of the Second Division who was designated to sit as special member of the Special Third division that was handling the case, thought they were ruling on it as a regular division," he said.
The case was also raffled to a new member-in-charge yesterday afternoon. The court en banc is expected to rule on the second motion for reconsideration of PAL.
The court made the action after receiving a letter from PAL lawyer Estelito Mendoza who pointed out the procedural flaw.
In a statement, Fasap president Bob Anduiza said the court's recall order is "mind-boggling" and "deeply disturbing," noting the case had already gone through three supposed resolutions.
"How is it possible that by a mere letter from the PAL lawyers, the Supreme Court en banc, immediately recalls a major decision involving 1,400 Filipino employees who in the past, were already told by the Supreme Court three times that PAL's retrenchment was illegal and that they are entitled to full back wages and reinstatement?" he asked.
Fasap will hold a rally in front of the SC building at 10 a.m. today to protest the recall. – With Gerard Naval
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Chief News Editor: Sol Jose Vanzi
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