2 professors to AIM: Respect NLRC ruling

Two senior professors of the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) called on school officials to respect and immediately implement a ruling of the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) lifting the one-year suspension meted on them.

Victor Limlingan and Emmanuel Leyco, chairman and president of the AIM Faculty Association (AFA) respectively, said a recent press statement by AIM officials claiming that the NLRC decision was not final and executory was “inaccurate and even misleading.”

In a joint statement, the two professors said the AIM’s claim “is in direct conflict” with a Feb. 27 notice of judgment issued by the NLRC, which states that the decision shall be “immediately executory even pending appeal.”

The NLRC, through labor arbiter Napoleon Menese, had decided in favor of the labor complaint filed by Limlingan and Leyco against the suspension imposed on them by AIM for alleged “dysfunctional behavior” and “willful breach of trust and confidence.”

While the one-year suspension was lifted and their withheld salary was ordered paid, the professors’ claim for damages was dismissed.

The two men were suspended after the AFA’s lawyers sent a demand letter to the AIM board of governors, asking for the rightful share of AIM professors and workers of the tuition increases imposed by the institute.

AIM management said Limlingan and Leyco reportedly disrupted the institution’s Leadership Week festivities in February 2007.

In his ruling, Menese ruled that the reason cited by AIM is no basis for suspending the two professors, who have a right to be heard. He noted that sending a demand letter is far from being a dysfunctional behavior.

Limlingan and Leyco urged AIM officials to consider the NLRC’s recommendation of holding dialogues with AFA, which said AIM should give their members a share of the tuition increases. The AFA cited Republic Act 6728, which provides that teachers should be given a 70 percent share of tuition increases imposed by an educational institution.      – Rainier Allan Ronda