Aquino halts PAL retrenchments

Thursday, 16 December 2010 01:16 Mia M. Gonzalez and Recto Mercene / Reporters
Business Mirror

CITING the need to protect national interest, Malacañang has assumed jurisdiction over the labor row between Philippine Airlines (PAL) management and the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (Palea), and stayed the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) order allowing a retrenchment at the national carrier.

The Palace order, contained in its decision on the petition filed by Palea with the Office of the President (OP) seeking presidential intervention in the PAL labor dispute, directs PAL management and Palea “to desist from undertaking any action that will aggravate the situation” pending the resolution of the petition, including going on strike on the part of Palea.

Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda told reporters at the Palace press area that the OP order “stays two orders of the secretary of Labor.”

“What it plainly means is that on the part of labor, they will not engage in strikes. On the part of management, there will be no lockout. Everything is on hold.... By assuming jurisdiction, the government will intervene and discuss it with both parties,” Lacierda said.

He added: “If and when there is no agreement, then the Office of the President will render decision on the petition of Palea.”

In the OP order, Ochoa said the petition to suspend the effect of mass  termination and the notice of strike “are hereby consolidated with the main petition.”

“Pending determination of the merits, thereof, and so as not to render moot and academic the resolution of the case, the orders dated 15 June 2010 and 29 October 2010 of the secretary of Labor...are stayed,” Ochoa said.

He added: “Palea and PAL management are directed to desist from undertaking any action that will aggravate the situation pending the resolution of this petition.”

Ochoa said that in issuing the directive, “it is but fair and just to afford Palea ample opportunity to exhaust its legal remedies available under the law.”

He said that while Article 263(i) of the Labor Code “provides, among others, that the decision of the secretary of Labor and Employment shall be final and executory in 10 calendar days after receipt thereof by the parties, pursuant to Section 6 of Administrative Order 18, we hold in abeyance the implementation of the subject order to give way to the overriding interests of the parties.”

Ochoa cited Article 263 (g) paragraph 3 of the Labor Code, which provides that “...the President of the Philippines shall not preclude from determining the industries that, in his opinion, are indispensable to the national interest, and from intervening at any time and assuming jurisdiction over any such labor dispute in order to settle or terminate the same.”

“Explicit in the statutory provision is the grant of power to the President to intervene at any time and assume jurisdiction over a labor dispute involving industries indispensable to national interest. Nowhere is it provided therein, that the same should be by way of appeal or through an original action as an extraordinary remedy,” Ochoa said.

He said the power of the President to review the DOLE orders is enshrined in Article VII, Section 17 of the Philippine Constitution, which states that “the President shall have control of all the executive departments, bureaus and offices.”

“And when the industries indispensable to national interest [the determination of which the Labor Code vested to the President of the Philippines and the secretary of Labor and Employment, with utmost unlimited discretion], get entangled in a labor dispute as in the instant case, the same code provides for Presidential intervention,” Ochoa said.

For its part, the PAL management yesterday said it will respect Malacañang’s assumption order which effectively stopped the PAL union’s strike plans and also held in abeyance the flag carrier’s spin-off program pending the result of the Palace review of the case.

PAL president Jaime Bautista said the flag carrier would abide by the Palace order as it has always done in the past.

“PAL would like to reiterate that it has not in any way, shape or form implemented the spin-off of its three noncore businesses, as it is awaiting the result of the Palace review of the labor dispute,” he said.

Bautista said the Palace order is most timely, since it comes at the height of the Christmas rush, when travelers have firmed up their travel plans and are eager to spend the holidays with their loved ones.
“While PAL’s spin-off program can wait, the order stopping the strike is the best Christmas gift the Palace can give to thousands of anxious PAL passengers with scheduled flights this holiday season. The strike ban will assuage the anxiety of our passengers in the midst of Palea’s repeated strike threats,” he added.

Bautista said PAL has always maintained that Malacañang has primary jurisdiction over the labor dispute. He stressed that it was Palea that sought presidential review of the earlier order of the Labor department recognizing the flag carrier’s prerogative to restructure its organization and implement a spin-off plan affecting some 2,600 workers.