Giant law firms are making labor justice very expensive
This will not endear me to my brothers and sisters in the Integrated Bar. But the truth has to be told. The reason why labor justice is becoming very expensive in this country is because many, if not most of our big law firms, are charging exorbitant attorneys' fees to their clients who are multinationals, conglomerates and giant firms, employing thousands of Filipino employees. These companies, instead of developing their own organic legal teams and learning to fight their own legal battles, are using influential law offices that can ''swing'' the directions of the legal battles. The HR and personnel departments in these corporations have become too dependent on external counsel that they cease to learn the ropes by themselves.
Under the Labor Code, Article 217 ( formerly 211 ), the NLRC, like the DOLE, was created precisely for the purpose of expeditious settlement of labor disputes. These are not arenas for the legal minds to use technicalities and legal maneuvers. In fact, under Article 227, in any proceeding before the NLRC and the Labor Arbiters, the rules of evidence prevailing in the courts of law or equity shall not be controlling. It is the spirit and the intention of the Labor Code that should prevail. And the intention is really to promote speedy, expeditious and inexpensive labor justice. Thus, the the Labor Arbiters are mandated to use every and all reasonable means to ascertain the facts in each case speedily and objectively, and without regard to the technicalities of law or procedure, all in the interest of due-process.
What is happening however is the complete opposite of this provision. Brilliant legal luminaries often use technicalities to delay the case. Lawyers from Manila come down to Cebu or put up their offices here and charge their clients a bundle of legal fees. Even a telephone conversation with clients is timed and charged. Pleadings and documentations are charged. Appearances are charged even if it is only to ask for postponement or to request for extension of time to file a position paper or a motion. These are matters that border on some possible violations of legal ethics. And the Integrated Bar should take this up objectively because these are some of the reasons why lawyers are looked with contempt by certain quarters in our society.
Lawyers file a hundred pages of pleadings and they call them ''brief.'' They often ask for more time to confer with clients. And Labor Arbiters, at times, are very liberal in granting extension, in the name of due-process. It is often alleged, that lawyers who are fraternity brothers of some Commissioners and Arbiters are treated with much tolerance and questionable understanding. Meanwhile, workers who are indigents, who still have to ask for a public attorney, are often being pressured and ''harassed'' to comply with the reglementary periods strictly. These and many other more nefarious practices are being whispered about in the corridors of labor justice. Somebody has to raise this matter as an issue of grave concern.
Justice in labor offices should not only be not delayed but also must be accessible to the poorest of the poor. Lawyers should not use their acumen to defeat the noble ends of the wheels of justice. I am a lawyer too and I know there are more good lawyers than undesirable ones. But let us look at ourselves and examine our conscience. Is there truth to all the allegations against us ?
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