KMU slams SC turnaround on PAL flight attendants' case

“A mockery of the justice system in the service of Lucio Tan.”


This was how labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno described the Supreme Court decision recalling a supposedly final decision on the case of Philippine Airlines flight attendants, as it condemned the high tribunal for being an instrument of big capitalists and landlords and the Aquino government.


Saying that a wrong division made the ruling, the SC en banc decided to take on the case after PAL management lawyer Estelito Mendoza questioned the ruling reinstating members of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines or Fasap.


“It’s so disgusting to see the SC swiftly reversing a ruling favorable to PAL’s flight attendants on a 13-year-old case on the basis of a lawyers’ letter, and not even a pleading,” said Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU chairperson.


“That shows you how biased the high tribunal is in favor of big capitalists like Lucio Tan and against Filipino workers. It is acting like a mere instrument of big capitalists and landlords and the Aquino government,” he added.


“People cannot help but ask: How much did Lucio Tan pay for this turnaround? Just like the Aquino government, the SC is steadily earning the workers’ and people’s anger,” he said.


Anti-worker, anti-people

KMU said the decision is the latest in the series of SC rulings that are anti-worker and anti-people under the government of Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.


“The SC has come up with many anti-worker and anti-people rulings under Pres. Aquino. It has favored the Aquino and Cojuangcos in the land dispute in Hacienda Luisita, Danding Cojuangco on the coco levy issue, and the Aquino government on the imposition of the Value-Added Tax on tolls,” Labog said.


“On the other hand, SC rulings favoring workers go unimplemented. The most famous among these are rulings favoring Nestle workers in their fight against the Nestle management,” he added.


A 1991 SC ruling reinstating workers who held a strike over the Nestle management’s refusal to include retirement benefits in negotiations for a Collective Bargaining Agreement remains unimplemented to this day. Elmer “Bong” Labog, KMU Chairperson