630 OFWs ask NLRC to release $6.5-M award

The 630 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who were recently awarded $6.5 million or roughly P338 million in labor claims have appealed to the National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) for the immediate execution of its order.

The claimants led by Bonifacio Obra, Igmedio Cascasan and Severiano Calma through their lawyer Gerardo del Mundo cited several Supreme Court decisions to bolster their claim for the immediate execution of the NLRC’s order despite an appeal filed by respondents EEI Corp. and Bechtel International Inc.

The 630 OFWs were hired and employed from 1995 to 1998 by the US-based multinational company Bechtel through its local agent EEI Corp. in their overseas projects in Algeria. Bechtel, a more than 100-year-old company, has more than 19,000 projects in 140 nations, according to the claimants.

The NLRC in its Sept. 3, 2002 decision ordered the two companies to pay the claimants the unexpired portion of their contracts, hazard pay, mobilization pay, project allowance, Christmas bonus, vacation leave pay, public holiday pay and 10-percent escalation pay, plus attorney’s fees.

Each OFW stands to receive from $7,000 (about P364,000) to $14,000 (P728,000). — Nestor Etolle