PALEA calls on new PAL management to drop criminal charges vs. members

Press Statement

September 11, 2012

PALEA

We call on the new management of Philippine Airlines headed by CEO Ramon S. Ang of the San Miguel Corp. group to facilitate the resolution of the pending labor dispute at the flag carrier by, among others, dropping the trumped up charges our members which were filed under the old company management of Jaime Bautista.

These criminal charges are an irritant to settling the labor row as they were intended to cajole and coerce PALEA members to avail of the outsourcing separation package and thereby surrender the fight for regular jobs.

The trumped up charges are inconsistent with the statement of Mr. Ramon Ang in the PAL annual stockholders meeting that the new management proposes a just and humane conclusion to the long-running labor row.

Further we call on the courts and the government to respect labor rights and labor laws. As enunciated in under DOJ Ministry Circular No. 15 (Series of 1982) and Department of Labor and Employment Department (DOLE) Order No. 40-G-03 (Series of 2010), no criminal information can be filed against workers without the required clearance from the DOLE. Absent such clearance, the courts are mandated to dismiss the charges outright. Such a policy, started after the formal lifting of martial law, aims to resolve rather than aggravate labor disputes and regulate the proclivity of capitalists to engage in harassment suits against workers.

We condemn Pasay Assistant City Prosecutor Orlando Mariano and Judge Bibiano Colasito of the Pasay MTC Branch 44 for finding probable cause and ordering the issuance of arrest warrants against 39 PALEA members, two of whom are women. These officers of the court not only defied labor statutes but infringed on our members right to due process, and thus deserve to face administrative charges.

Further we denounce PAL lawyer Atty. Santiago “Sonny” Quial for his legal machinations. Quial plans to run for city councilor if not district representative in the coming elections. As many PALEA members are Pasay voters, we will make sure that a law breaker does not become a law maker.

Finally we thank our brothers and sisters in the labor movement both here and abroad for their solidarity. As part of this solidarity, a global day of action for PALEA and other airline workers will be held on September 27, anniversary of the protest against outsourcing at PAL. Aside from rallies in Manila and Cebu, actions are scheduled in Melbourne and Sydney in Australia, Vancouver and Toronto in Canada, Istanbul in Turkey, Mumbai in India, Lahore in Pakistan and San Francisco in the USA.