PARD seeks stiff sanctions vs SSS mass action leaders, senior officials

An association of retired employees is demanding that the leaders of the Social Security System (SSS), that spearheaded the mass actions that resulted in the departure of its president, be sanctioned according to civil service regulations.

In a formal letter of complaint, the Philippine Association of Retired Persons (PARD) asked the Office of the Ombudsman and the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to impose sanctions on the leaders of the recent walk-out from the work two weeks ago. The mass actions sought the ouster of erstwhile SSS president Vitaliano Nañagas II.

Nañagas has since been reappointed as chairman of the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) while Corazon de la Paz was appointed as the new president of the pension fund.

However, the PARD asked that the rank and file not be included as "they were only misled by their leaders."

"PARD requests, that this defiance of the law – and the basic tenet of the rule of law should not be allowed to pass without sanctions as otherwise government workers might think that they can break the law on strikes with impunity," PARD national president Amado F. Cabaero said.

Cabaero was referring to leaders of Alert and Concerned Employees for a Better SSS (Acess) which spearheaded the ouster movement for Nañagas. It started with mass actions held during the lunch breaks but later on lasted for whole days.

But seems to have irked the members of the PARD was that Acess members including SSS executive vice president Horacio Templo met and reached an agreement with the officers of the retirees last Aug. 2 at the Sulo Hotel.

In that meeting, Templo and Acess officials assured that the work stoppage would only be held during the lunch break so as not to disrupt operations.

"PARD admonished them (strikers) nevertheless to stop the walkout as this was contrary to law and adversely affected the 23 million SSS members, especially the retirees," the PARD president said in his letter of complaint.

"The rule of law, which mandates sanction in illegal strikes, not ‘mobocracy’, should prevail," the PARD asserted.

Earlier, De la Paz vowed to continue investigations on the alleged anomalies in the pension fund which was widely perceived was what prompted several officers to call for the mass walkout.

The investigations implicated three SSS officials to alleged anomalies involving billions of pesos, which were used by former President Joseph Estrada in the controversial stock market transactions. The report was sent to Malacañang and the Presidential Commission on Anti Graft and Corruption for the appropriate action.

Named in the report were: Horacio Templo, executive vice president; Edgardo Solilapsi, senior vice president; and Lilia Marquez, manager.

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said in a press conference that she would not allow a similar incident in sensitive government agencies especially involving public money.

"The investigations will continue and those who have been found guilty of administrative and criminal offenses will be punished accordingly," the visibly-irked president said.

Formal charges are also being finalized against SSS employees who have been accused of abandoning their posts in favor of the picket lines at the SSS grounds. They will be asked to appear before the Civil Service Commission (CSC) for administrative violations.

"We do not want it (mass actions) to be a precedent," she added. – Ted Torres