MORE than 800 former workers of the now defunct North Luzon Tollways (NLTW) have lost their claim for compensation totaling P171.072 million against the Philippine National Construction Corp. (PNCC).
In a seven-page en banc decision released last week, the Commission on Audit denied the petition of the retrenched NLTW workers, saying the 2011 decision of the National Labor Relations Commission — Regional Arbitration Branch 3 awarding them P155.52 million or P192,000 for each former employee plus an additional ten percent for attorney’s fee cannot be enforced.
COA Chairperson Gamaliel A. Cordoba and Commissioners Roland Café Pondoc and Mario G. Lipana said the 13-year decision of the labor arbiter of NLRC-RAB 3 had been set aside by the Eighth Division of the Court of Appeals on February 9, 2016.
The workers’ petition for review was likewise denied by the Supreme Court in a resolution dated April 18, 2016. Without further appeal from petitioners, the Entry of Judgment was issued on November 14, 2016.
Records showed the PNCC, which previously operated the NLTW and the South Luzon Tollways (SLTW), signed a Toll Operations Agreement in 1999 with the Manila North Tollways Corp (MNTC) transferring the operation and management of the tollways to the latter, resulting in the retrenchment of 810 NLTW workers.
Under a Special Separation Program, the workers who lost their jobs were paid their remaining salaries; unearned/unused vacations and leaves; 13th month pays; rice subsidies and uniform and medical benefits; and retrenchment pay equivalent to 250 percent of their basic salaries for every year of service.
The payouts were released in phases from 2002 to 2005 but SLTW workers, through efforts of their bargaining agent, the PNCC Tollway Management Division, received additional benefits such as exit bonuses of P100,000, productivity bonus of P40,000, emergency cost of living allowances of P32,000 and International Organization of Standardization (ISO) bonus of P20,000.
The NLTW workers, represented by PNCC- Toll Operations Employees and Workers Union, did not receive the same extra benefits but were awarded P192,000 each by the NLRC-RAB 3.
In its ruling, the COA noted that the courts had already explained that the NLTW workers were represented by a different bargaining agent which did not negotiate for the extra benefits the way the agent of SLTW workers did.
Likewise, the productivity pay, ECOLA, and ISO bonuses were all granted beyond 2005 after the NLTW was already retrenched, hence no longer employees of PNCC.
“Considering that the Writ of Execution issued by the labor arbiter of RAB No. 3 is null and void and the SC has determined with finality that petitioners are not entitled to the benefits claimed, the petition should be denied for lack of merit,” the COA declared.
