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NAVIGATOR'S
Diary |
CA reinstates stevedoring firm
THE Court of Appeals (CA) has ordered the reinstatement
of Pier 8 Arrastre Stevedoring Services Inc. (PASSI) after it was forcibly
taken over by the Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) in its “bid to privatize
the port.”
In a decision handed down early January this year, the
CA disagreed with PPA’s claim that PASSI, which operates on a “hold-over”
capacity, has no contractual basis and “could be terminated anytime.” PASSI
has cited grave abuse of discretion when PPA forcibly took over Pier 8
of the domestic port as the main ground of its appeal before the court.
PPA took over the operations of Pier 8 due to an impending
strike last April. PPA claimed to have been protecting the public interest
in taking over PASSI operations. However, the court said it was quite obvious
that the strike was merely used as a “convenient” reason for a forcible
takeover” as the strike never happened. “Another factor that would militate
against the validity of the PPA’s claim on the said strike is the fact
that respondent PPA used the very same workforce of PASSI in its operations.
If it were true that indeed the workers were to stage a strike, what difference
would it make should the PPA take over,” the court said.
Meanwhile, PASSI is set to file a damage suit against
PPA allegedly due to its forcible removal from the facility last year.
It will claim in its lawsuit the lost revenues from operations since PPA
started to take over Pier 8 of North Harbor in April last year.
PASSI president Eliodoro Cruz said the firm used to earn
monthly revenues of P7 million or a consolidated P63 million in the last
nine months since PPA took over the facility on the grounds of an impending
strike, which the CA ruled as a “convenient reason” for an illegal move.
DOLE orders NENACO to pay workers
THE Department of Labor and Employment
(DOLE) has ordered the management of Negros Navigation Co. (NENACO) to
pay its retrenched workers 150 percent of their basic pay for every year
of service. After months of arbitration hearings and conciliation meetings,
the labor department issued a ruling instructing the shipping firm to pay
the terminated employees in full with the remaining 50 percent to be paid
in three months. It explained that the payment scheme arrived at was due
to the financial condition of the company after it registered net losses
of almost P3 billion for the past three years.
Last July 21, 2000, the Negros Employees
and Laborers Union based in Iloilo filed its notice of strike with the
National Conciliation and Mediation Board (NCMB) – Region 6. It cited unfair
labor practices committed by the management particularly the unlawful termination
of regular employees. Before the workers could go on strike, Nenaco fired
them citing “redundancy” in functions, saying that due to streamlining
and centralization, the accounting function was transferred in Manila and
their services were no longer needed.
Initially, the company offered retrenched
workers separation benefits covering one-month salary for every year of
service, refund of contribution to the provident fund and the cash conversion
of unused vacation and sick leaves. But the union demanded the equivalent
of 150 percent of separation based on monthly salaries aside from the provident
retirement fund. Likewise, the union noted that under its Collective Bargaining
Agreement (CBA), the company can only terminate employees through the grievance
committee.
However, NENACO justified its action
by stressing that the company entered the redundancy program also due to
the financial problems of the company after posting losses of P889 million
in 1997, P850 million in 1998 and P777.7 million in 1999. Moreover, it
explained that the deregulation program of the domestic shipping industry
has adversely affected their operation along with the globalization.
PCG acquires second SAR vessel
THE Philippine Coast Guard
(PCG) has acquired its second brand new, state-of-the art search and rescue
(SAR) vessel from Australia under the Philippine Maritime Safety Improvement
Project. Christened “BRP EDSA II” in commemoration of the recent
historic People’s Power II at EDSA, the newly acquired vessel is similar
to the first SAR vessel “BRP San Juan,” the name of the home municipality
of former President Joseph Estrada. BRP San Juan was commissioned
on July 18, 2000.
The acquisition of the two SAR vessels
serves as a major development of the PCG in upgrading rescue facilities
for safety at sea. Both vessels are designed for rapid response in time
of crisis, equipped with state-of-the-art gadgets for recovery of survivors
and fitted with helipads for airborne search or emergency evacuation. Facilities
include four fast Rigid Inflatable Boats (RIB) that could launch a large
survivors’ rescue area capable of accommodating some 300 survivors, a recompression
chamber and a pollution control equipment. It is powered by two diesel
engines with twin controllable pitch propellers and is designed to maintain
a maximum speed of more than 24.5 knots with a range of 2000 nautical miles
at 15 knots.
The plan to acquire the two modern
SAR vessels started as early as 1991 when then Department of Transportation
and Communications (DOTC) Secretary Pete Nicomedes Prado vowed to provide
PCG with additional vessels. The Osprey class vessels offered by ASI/OSY
of Australia was found to be the best designed medium-sized vessel for
the PCG among other proponents from China, Italy and Japan.
The DOTC pursued its commitment
to the PCG by entering into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Australian
Shipbuilding Industries (WA) Pty. Ltd. for the supply of the “Osprey”
class 55-meter SAR vessel on the Feb. 21, 1992.
According to Lt. Ronaldo Punzalan,
public information officer and staff secretary to the PCG chief of staff,
BRP EDSA II was commissioned by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo at the
PCG headquarters in Port Area, Manila, on Feb.9, coinciding with the turn-over
of command at PCG.
4 Pinoy seafarers drown
FOUR Filipino crewmembers of a Panamanian-registered freighter
drowned after the vessel sank in the Pacific Ocean in early January this
year. According to the Japanese coastguard, the White Koowa, with two Japanese
and 12 Filipino crew on board and carrying 3,000 tons of nickel ore, sunk
in waters off Kochi some 625 kilometers (approximately 390 miles) southwest
of Tokyo. Several patrol boats and an aircraft were immediately dispatched
to the scene and rescued five of the Filipino crew. Two other Filipino
crewmembers and the ship’s captain and chief engineer, both Japanese, were
found unconscious by the rescuers. One Filipino crewmember remained unaccounted
for. It was not known immediately why the 3,561-ton freighter sank. The
vessel left Indonesia a day after Christmas and was due to arrive
at a southwestern Japanese port first week of January. |
