Flight attendants rally vs SC flip-flop on PAL case

Members of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) on Tuesday rallied outside the Supreme Court to protest the court's recall of its Sept. 7, 2011 ruling declaring as illegal the dismissal of 1,400 Philippine Airlines workers in 1998. Wearing orange shirts and black arm bands, some 50 former PAL flight attendants and stewards trooped to the SC building in Manila carrying banners with statements like "Supreme Court, we believe" and "Supreme Court, umaasa pa rin kami. Ibalik niyo ang tiwala namin sa inyo." One of the female protesters planked on the pavement, while her fellow rallyists shouted "We want justice! We want justice!" "We are here to express our dismay over the recall of the decision," Ding Dreyfus, one of FASAP's spokespersons, told GMA News Online. "The court has given its decision with finality already then they will suddenly call for a review? Where is justice there?" Citing "technicalities," the high court on Monday recalled the Sept. 7 decision by its Second Division and decided to take up the issue once more in an en banc session on Tuesday. According to Dreyfus, the recall came even if the court had ruled three times in the past in favor of the FASAP — in 2008, 2009, and last September — with two motions for reconsideration so far.

Mockery? "That's the mockery in the justice system in the Philippines. They are already the highest body in the judiciary so if they make a mistake, who questions them?" Dreyfus said. Dreyfus blamed PAL legal counsel Estelito Mendoza for intervening in the case when he allegedly sent a letter to the high court regarding the case right before the recall order was issued. Dreyfus said the letter may be the reason why the justices granted to review the case although he admitted that he is clueless on the contents of the letter. "We would like to know everything about the letter but I doubt if the court will ever expose its contents," he said. Babes Al-hamsi became a PAL attendant in 1978 and served the company for 20 years before she and some 1,400 others were terminated from the airline firm. Now 59 years old, she expressed disappointment over the recall, especially since her group has been fighting for the case for around 13 years. She said her termination from work in 1998 made it difficult for her to make both ends meet, as she was even forced to make her four children transfer to more affordable schools. At some point, her children even had to stop schooling altogether. "Malungkot talaga ako. Parang may non-belief pa ako sa mga nangyari. Kasi saan pa kami tatakbo kung Supreme Court na ang nagdesisyon," she told GMA News Online. Still hopeful Still, Al-Hamsi expressed hopes that the magistrates will come out of the en banc session with a vote in favor of the FASAP. "It's really not about PAL, the company, itself. It's really about the people working inside it and the justice system in the country," she said. In a two-page resolution issued on Oct. 4, the court en banc took back the “final entry of judgment" that earlier declared as illegal PAL’s retrenchment of 1,400 flight attendants after they went on strike back in 1998. The latest high court resolution also took back its order to PAL’s owner, businessman Lucio Tan, to pay P3 billion in favor of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association (FASAP). SC spokesman and court administrator Midas Marquez explained that instead of a Special Division taking up the case – as required by Section 7, Rule 2 of the Internal Rules of the Supreme Court – the court’s Second Division promulgated on Sept.7 a resolution, dismissing PAL’s second motion for reconsideration and affirming the Third Division’s 2008 decision in favor of FASAP. Marquez cited the re-shuffling of the composition of the court divisions following a series of retirement of SC associate justices from the high bench. — KBK, GMA News