Keep it speedy, sweetheart

A government that cannot deliver simple labor justice to its poor workers does not deserve the loyalty of its people.  A country that makes it difficult for its poor workers to obtain a quick and inexpensive redress for their legitimate grievances can even arouse the disillusionment, the frustrations and even anger of the citizenry. Trade union leaders who have access to tripartite consultative councils and therefore have direct channels to policy-making, and yet fail to put forward a package of reforms in labor-dispute settlement should be ashamed to face their union members for utter failure in their main reason for being.

If food becomes poison without freedom, then jobs become servitude without labor justice. Everyday, thousands of cases are being  filed with the NLRC, the DOLE Regional Offices, the POEA, the Bureau of Labor Relations, and the Employees Compensation Commission. Public Officials are appointed by the President and the Labor Secretary, with quite high salaries, perks and privileges. They are given cars with free gasoline, with drivers and many clerks and review staff. They have all the means. And yet, cases remain pending beyond tolerable limits. They should therefore answer to the people for this betrayal of public trust.

If anyone wishes to question this observation, may I challenge him or his organization to conduct a performance audit of the offices concerned. The Philippine Constitution mandates that public records are open to the scrutiny of the citizens. That is the principle of accountability of public officials and transparency of public records. The people have the right to know. Both labor and management have the right to demand speedy, expeditious and inexpensive labor justice. They are the customers and the costumers are always right.  

What is surprising is that no partylist congressman, no union leader has stood up to denounce the pernicious effects of notoriously undesirable delay. The Church should also take a strong position against all forms of delay because as early as 1890s, Pope Leo XIII, in his masterpiece encyclical “ Rerum Novarum,” already called for immediate, speedy, and accessible systems to settle the irritations between capital’s tendencies to exploit and oppress the working class, on the one hand, and labor’s inclinations to terrorize and harass the capitalists, on the other hand.

One of the most important promises of the Labor Code, 38 years ago, was to assure both workers and employers of this country was to assure both workers and employers of this country a speedy, expeditious and inexpensive labor justice. The reason why the CIR (Court of Industrial Relations) was abolished because it became too notoriously undesirable due to its alleged blatant corruptions, its ineptitude, and its anti-people orientation. Today, labor justice has become too cumbersome, too expensive. Delay has become the yoke that the working class is carrying. Until when could the workers bear this burden?

In 1977, this writer was appointed as a Labor Arbiter by the President. We have powers to act as virtual judges, but we approached dispute settlement as facilitators not as judicial officers. We had powers to issue subpoenas and swear witnesses but we acted as friends of the parties, not as their inquisitors or rulers.   More importantly, we had a sense of urgency. We decided cases with utmost concern for speed and the quality of results. As Labor Arbiters, we did not act as independent tribunals. We had strong linkages with our publics. We recognized the DOLE as the fulcrum of our integrated approach at helping both labor and management. We did our jobs with high quality of results and with speed.  The workers do not need high-sounding legal theories and Oxford English. They need simple justice. And they need it urgently.

Today, if you ask the labor litigants, they would tell you that the process is far from speedy. They lose their cases and they lose them or win them, if at all, after almost 20 years of waiting. Empirical data may shock us that by the average, it takes 2 to 3 years for a simple case of illegal dismissal to be resolved by the arbiter, 3 to 4 years for the NLRC to resolve the appeal, 4 to 5 years for the Court of Appeals and, with all due respect, even 5 to 6 years in the Supreme Court. If we add 2 years for the execution of judgment, that would be a disappointing 20 years for a simple question of whether there was just or authorized cause for terminating an employment and whether due process was afforded.

To my mind, there is no justifying or exempting circumstance to excuse any delay. A public office is a public trust. He who holds office and fails to deliver what is expected of him should be held guilty having betrayed this public trust. If we were in Japan, the official concerned would either tender his resignation or commit “hara kiri.” How can the government expect loyalty from its people if it cannot even give to the people what it rightfully deserves?