PAL ordered to answer FASAP's appeal

MANILA, Philippines - The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday ordered flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) to answer the petition of 1,400 flight attendants to reinstate the Sept. 7 ruling of the court declaring their retrenchment in 1998 as illegal.

In a resolution, the SC gave the airline 10 days to submit its comment to the petition of the Flight Attendants and Stewards Association of the Philippines (FASAP) to nullify the court’s Oct. 4 ruling that recalled the Sept. 7 decision.

Early yesterday, some 200 FASAP members gathered outside the SC compound hoping that the tribunal would rule on their motion filed last Monday.

In the motion, the group said the Sept. 7 ruling that allowed them to collect P3-billion worth of back wages from PAL should not have been recalled.

Through its legal counsel, retired justice Santiago Kapunan, the group said that the recall order, which was based merely on the letter sent by PAL lawyer Estelito Mendoza, was unconstitutional because it violated due process.

FASAP said it was deprived of the right to present its side because it was not provided copies of the letters sent by Mendoza questioning the composition of the division that handed down the Sept. 7 resolution.

The recall order was signed by Justices Arturo Brion and Jose Perez, regular members of the second division; and Justices Diosdado Peralta, Lucas Bersamin and Jose Mendoza, who sat as substitute members.

Senior Associate Justice Antonio Carpio, chair of the second division, inhibited during voting but later approved the release of the resolution.

SC spokesman Midas Marquez earlier said the Sept. 7 ruling was recalled due to “misapplication of rules” after it was found that the case should have been handled by a special division, not by a regular division.

The court recalled the order after receiving a letter from Mendoza who pointed out the procedural flaw.

Marquez said the case was first assigned to the 3rd division of the SC with retired Justice Consuelo Ynares-Santiago as member-in-charge. When Ynares retired in 2009, the case was transferred to a special division composed of her replacement and original members.

Membership in divisions of the high court has since changed because of the reshuffle over the retirement of justices.

To avoid confusion, the case was transferred to the full court for another deliberation of the second motion of reconsideration filed by PAL.

Associate Justice Ma. Lourdes Sereno, President Aquino’s first appointee to the court, was assigned as new member-in-charge of the case.