Constellation
31st January 2000, 13:39
Solon to seek probe
into PAL union 'payoff'
By Armand Nocum
LABOR Rep. Renato Magtubo will ask tomorrow the House committee on labor and employment to investigate reports of an alleged payoff involving Philippine Airlines owner Lucio Tan and the PAL ground crew union.
Magtubo said the alleged multimillion-peso bribe resulted in the ''highly questionable'' agreement forged last Sept. 27 between PAL management and the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (Palea).
The deal, which followed a series of strikes by airline employees and the temporary closure of PAL, provides for a 10-year suspension of the collective bargaining agreement between management and the union.
Magtubo, Sanlakas party-list representative, said the deal ''is inimical to the constitutional rights of the workers.''
Informed about Magtubo's move, Palea members proposed yesterday that those who ''brokered'' the PAL-Palea deal also be included in the investigation.
They said the brokers included labor leader Filemon ''Popoy'' Lagman, human rights advocate Renato Constantino Jr. and Palea legal counsel Arno Sanidad.
Magtubo said in his proposed resolution to the House panel that if reports of a handing out of a P50-million bribe were true, then the issue ''constitutes interference in the employees' rights to self-organization, tantamount to unfair labor practice as defined under the Labor Code of the Philippines.''
He added: ''It is high time we addressed this pernicious company practice of bribing union officials, in its efforts to discredit and/or destroy the union by corrupting its members through attractive offers.''
In justifying the need for a House investigation, Magtubo noted that the Labor Code and the Revised Penal Code were ''inadequate to punish company owners who bribe union officials.''
Thus, he said, the House probe would aid lawmakers in drafting legislation to plug loopholes in the measures.
Magtubo will specifically ask the committee on labor and employment to:
o Establish the veracity of published reports regarding the alleged bribery of ousted Palea president Alexander Barrientos.
o Recommend possible criminal actions against PAL owner Lucio Tan and other responsible individuals.
o Propose specific laws to stop the ''widespread practice of corrupting union officials by company owners in the hope of destroying the union, as well as to promote unionism in the country.''
Magtubo drafted his resolution after Palea officials proposed on Friday that the Senate and the House probe be asked to look into the allegations of a payoff.
Barrientos' wife, Lorna Miranda, had earlier claimed that her husband received P50 million from Tan in July last year, when Palea struck. The accusation was contained in a concubinage suit she filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court
into PAL union 'payoff'
By Armand Nocum
LABOR Rep. Renato Magtubo will ask tomorrow the House committee on labor and employment to investigate reports of an alleged payoff involving Philippine Airlines owner Lucio Tan and the PAL ground crew union.
Magtubo said the alleged multimillion-peso bribe resulted in the ''highly questionable'' agreement forged last Sept. 27 between PAL management and the Philippine Airlines Employees Association (Palea).
The deal, which followed a series of strikes by airline employees and the temporary closure of PAL, provides for a 10-year suspension of the collective bargaining agreement between management and the union.
Magtubo, Sanlakas party-list representative, said the deal ''is inimical to the constitutional rights of the workers.''
Informed about Magtubo's move, Palea members proposed yesterday that those who ''brokered'' the PAL-Palea deal also be included in the investigation.
They said the brokers included labor leader Filemon ''Popoy'' Lagman, human rights advocate Renato Constantino Jr. and Palea legal counsel Arno Sanidad.
Magtubo said in his proposed resolution to the House panel that if reports of a handing out of a P50-million bribe were true, then the issue ''constitutes interference in the employees' rights to self-organization, tantamount to unfair labor practice as defined under the Labor Code of the Philippines.''
He added: ''It is high time we addressed this pernicious company practice of bribing union officials, in its efforts to discredit and/or destroy the union by corrupting its members through attractive offers.''
In justifying the need for a House investigation, Magtubo noted that the Labor Code and the Revised Penal Code were ''inadequate to punish company owners who bribe union officials.''
Thus, he said, the House probe would aid lawmakers in drafting legislation to plug loopholes in the measures.
Magtubo will specifically ask the committee on labor and employment to:
o Establish the veracity of published reports regarding the alleged bribery of ousted Palea president Alexander Barrientos.
o Recommend possible criminal actions against PAL owner Lucio Tan and other responsible individuals.
o Propose specific laws to stop the ''widespread practice of corrupting union officials by company owners in the hope of destroying the union, as well as to promote unionism in the country.''
Magtubo drafted his resolution after Palea officials proposed on Friday that the Senate and the House probe be asked to look into the allegations of a payoff.
Barrientos' wife, Lorna Miranda, had earlier claimed that her husband received P50 million from Tan in July last year, when Palea struck. The accusation was contained in a concubinage suit she filed before the Makati Regional Trial Court