SC asks PAL to comment on FASAP plea

The Supreme Court on Tuesday tackled the Flight Attendants and Stewards of the Philippines's (FASAP) request to reconsider a recall order on its 13-year labor case against the Philippine Airlines. In an en banc session, the magistrates asked the airline firm to comment on the FASAP's motion for reconsideration, filed on Monday, within 10 days. In the same session, retired Supreme Court Justice Santiago Kapunan entered his appearance as a legal counsel for the FASAP. "There were two items in agenda. One is the appearance of former Justice Santiago Kapunan as counsel of FASAP and the motion for reconsideration filed by FASAP yesterday and the court has taken note of that MR and is requiring PAL to comment," court spokesman and administrator Midas Marquez said at a briefing in Manila. Earlier in the day, around 200 FASAP members gathered outside the Supreme Court compound in hopes that the tribunal will rule on their motion for reconsideration. The group was asking the court to reinstate the "final" ruling made by the court's Second Division ordering PAL to give back the jobs of some 1,400 employees who were retrenched in 1998. PAL was also ordered to pay the employees back some P3 billion. A month later, however, the court recalled the order, citing some "technicalities" pointed out by PAL lawyer Estelito Mendoza in several letters to the court. - Mark D. Merueñas/KBK, GMA News