A WEB page enabling workers to gain rapid access to essential information about their health and safety rights and responsibilities has been set up by the Health and Safety Executive.

The "workers’ webpage" http://www.hse.gov.uk/ workers
- covers the roles and responsibilities of employers and employees, as well as issues such as ‘whistle-blowing’ and reporting accidents.

Court Throws Out Lafeber’s Appeal For Good

When it rains, it pours. That is probably what’s running on the thoughts of Dutch national Ronald Lafeber, managing director of C-Link Pte. Ltd. Singapore these days following a series of legal setbacks that he got from the courts with his string of cases.

In addition to losing a libel case he filed against UFS President Nelson Ramirez through a decision of a Manila Regional Trial Court promulgated on April 5, 2006 and published in the July-August 2006 issue of Tinig ng Marino, Lafeber practically got whipped hard financially with a recent decision of the Court of Appeals on February 13, 2006 affirming that his company is obligated to pay unremitted manning fees to Crewlink, Inc.

What’s more, the Department of Justice has already issued a memorandum to the Bureau of Immigration dated September 1, 2006 officially putting Ronald Lafeber on the BID’s watchlist.

In 1998, Ma. Luz A. Alicer, President of Crewlink, Inc. filed a case against Lafeber with the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 35 for the failure of Lafeber’s C-Link to remit to Crewlink manning fees amounting to almost PhP 7 million for the period from January 1995 to October 1997 as provided for in their manning agreement.

The civil case was tried and dragged on for four years. On September 16, 2002, the Manila Regional Trial Court decided in favor of Alicer and Crewlink, thus directing Lafeber and C-Link to pay damages including the PhP 7 million unremitted manning fees.

Confident of being able to still get away from the financial entanglement that C-Link put itself into, Lafeber pushed his luck further by subsequently appealing the decision of the Manila Regional Trial Court with the Ninth Division of the Court of Appeals. 

On June 27, 2005, the Court of Appeals affirmed the decision of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 35.
But C-Link and Lafeber seemed hell-bent on delaying the forthcoming so they filed a Motion for Reconsideration on the decision of the Court of Appeals on July 19, 2005.

On October 6, 2005, the Court of Appeals promulgated a decision denying the motion for reconsideration of C-Link and Lafeber, citing that “it (the court) finds no cogent reason with which to modify, much less reverse, its June 27, 2005 decision.”

About four months later or on February 10, 2006, the counsels of C-Link filed with the Court of Appeals a manifestation and motion for entry of judgment with prayer to remand the case to the court of origin for execution.
The Court of Appeals then issued a resolution on February 13, 2006, stating that: “In view of the report of the Judicial Records Division dated February 7, 2006 that no Supreme Court petition has been filed, the decision became final and executory on November 4, 2005. An entry of judgment is ordered issued.”

With the decision already recorded in the Book of Entries and Judgments, it was obviously the end of the line for Lafeber and C-Link in as far as trying to evade its long-overdue financial obligations to Crewlink is concerned.
In addition to Lafeber’s financial obligation mandated by the court, some 200 Filipino seafarers are also on the lookout for him for the recovery of US$1.5 million in pension funds that were allegedly deducted from their salaries about eight years ago by their foreign principal, who they named as Ronald Lafeber.

On August 28, 2006, Ramirez had the rare opportunity to cross path with Ronald Lafeber in Ermita, Manila and the Dutch national was quoted to have said to Ramirez: “We are celebrating. We closed our office. Thank you.”

Ramirez found no reason to argue over mild sarcasm but deep inside, he felt a sense of fulfillment. The recent court decisions against Lafeber are more than enough proofs of Ramirez’s legal perspectives on the past actions of the Dutch national against a number of Filipino seafarers.

“Overall, this is a triumph for the Filipino seafarers. So those vultures on the industry that trample on the rights and take advantage of the Filipino seafarers, regardless of nationality, status or wealth, the UFS will not take your actions sitting down. We will work until justice is served in the end,” emphatically points out Ramirez.
 

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