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OFFICIAL STATEMENT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN AGUSTIN ON THE RESOLUTION DATED JUNE 14, 2006 OF THE SUPREME COURT IN G.R. NO. 169632 ENTITLED “UNIVERSITY OF SAN AGUSTIN EMPLOYEES UNION–FFW V. COURT OF APPEALS AND THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN AGUSTIN” DENYING WITH FINALITY THE MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION OF THE USAEU-FFW On March 28, 2006, the Honorable
Supreme Court, in G.R. No. 169632 entitled “University of San Agustin Employees
Union-FFW, et al. v. University of San Agustin,” promulgated its decision
affirming in toto the Partially Amended Decision dated August 23, 2005
of the Court of Appeals in CA-G.R. SP No. 85317 which (a) declared illegal the USAEU-FFW strike of September 19, 2003,
(b) declared the union officers to have lost their employment status, and (c)
ordered the parties, the USAEU-FFW in particular, to proceed to voluntary
arbitration with the University of San Agustin. Thereafter, the University of San Agustin Employees-Union – FFW
(USAEU-FFW) filed with the Honorable Supreme Court a Motion for
Reconsideration. On July 17, 2006, the University of San Agustin received the
Resolution dated June 14, 2006 of the Honorable Supreme Court DENYING WITH
FINALITY the Motion for Reconsideration of the USAEU-FFW. The Resolution of June 14, 2006 reads in part: “Acting on petitioner's [USAEU-FFW}
motion for reconsideration dated 5 May 2006 of the decision dated 28 March
2006, the Court resolves to DENY the motion with FINALITY, the
basic issues raised therein having been duly considered and passed upon by the
Court in the aforesaid decision and no substantial argument having been adduced
to warrant the reconsideration sought.” The time for wishful thinking on the
part of the USAEU-FFW and its legal counsel, Atty. Mae M. Gellecanao-Laserna,
has finally come to an end. Reality has set in and that reality is
-- the USAEU-FFW engaged in a corrupt
and illegal strike on September 19, 2003 for which its officers have lost their
employment status. The further reality
is that the union officers' termination by the
University of San Agustin on April 5, 2005 following the Decision of the
Court of Appeals, was valid. These dismissed union officers
headed by Theodore Neil V. Lasola, and their legal counsel have been fooling
the gullible that the union officers' dismissal last April 5, 2005 was illegal
because of the pendency of a Motion for Reconsideration. They purposely did not disclose that the
Supreme Court has categorically ruled that Article 264 of the Labor Code grants
the employer the option of declaring a union officer who participated in an
illegal strike as having lost his employment status. The University of San Agustin could
have terminated the union officers at anytime after the strike of September 19,
2003. Lasola and company could have
been terminated as early as September 19, 2003. Admittedly, such termination
could be enjoined by the Secretary of Labor or a court of law pendente lite.
The University of San Agustin, instead waited for a declaration that the
USAEU-FFW strike of September 19, 2003 was illegal before terminating the union
officers. Unfortunately, the decision of the former Secretary of Labor, after
disregarding the Report filed by the DOLE sheriffs about the strike and worse,
fabricating facts favorable to the USAEU-FFW, declared legal the union
strike. Not surprisingly, the Court of
Appeals ruled that the Secretary of Labor committed grave abuse of discretion
in disregarding the DOLE Sheriffs Report which clearly showed that the strike
was illegal. The University of San
Agustin thereafter did not waste time to exercise its legal right to declare
the union officers who participated in an illegal strike as having lost their
employment status. As already stated, the Court of
Appeals and even the Supreme Court could have ordered the University of San
Agustin to reinstate pendente lite the dismissed union officers. However, in light of the clear finding of
the chronicled corruption that marked the union strike of September 19, 2003,
the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court, did not provide interim relief as
prayed for by the USAEU-FFW. And
consistent with their refusal to provide relief pendente lite to the
USAEU-FFW, the Court of Appeals and Supreme Court declared the termination of
the union officers to be legal. The legality of the
termination of the USAEU-FFW officers now settled, the on-going USAEU-FFW
strike which began on April 25, 2005 is without basis in law and, in fact and
accordingly, is likewise illegal.
It will be remembered that the USAEU-FFW went on strike on April 25,
2005 claiming that the dismissal of their officers on April 5, 2005 following
the Court of Appeals decision constituted union busting. As can be clearly adduced from the
decisions of the Supreme Court and
Court of Appeals, there is no union busting. In fact, there was even no illegal
dismissal to begin with. To repeat, the on-going USAEU-FFW strike has no
factual and legal basis. The legality of the dismissal of the
union officers and the USAEU-FFW strikes having been resolved with finality,
the University of San Agustin trusts that the responsible membership of the
USAEU-FFW will officially and formally call off the so-called “strike”
instigated and railroaded by Mr. Neil Theodore V. Lasola and company. A strike is a concerted refusal of employees
to report for work until their demands are met. Mr. Lasola and his fellow union officers are no longer
“employees” of the University of San Agustin by final judgment of the Supreme
Court. Since they are not employees of the University of San Agustin, they do
not even have the personality to “strike” against their former employer. The University of San Agustin trusts
that the responsible membership of the USAEU-FFW will already voluntarily
remove all strike paraphernalia which have long been a public nuisance. If the
truth be told, the strike area was never manned on a daily basis, even by Mr.
Neil Theodore V. Lasola and company. The filthy and tattered union streamers
(only recently replaced), however, have provided cover and shade to cigarette
and other ambulatory vendors as well as people playing card, dice and other
games of chance. The University of San Agustin looks forward to resuming its
cordial, professional and peaceful relations with bona fide members of
the USAEU-FFW who first and foremost are and must be employees of the
school. In closing, the University of San
Agustin addresses the orchestrators who planned the corrupt and illegal strikes
of the USAEU-FFW. If you truly want to espouse the cause of responsible
unionism and attain industrial peace, you should shun personalities and instead
follow the law. In so doing, the rights of the laborers you seek to protect
will be protected. We are a nation of
laws and not of men. This was not the
case, as the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court found, in the days leading
to and on the day of the USAEU-FFW strike of September 19, 2003. Personalities, corruption and deliberate
defiance of settled procedure and jurisprudence were the order of the day for
the leaders and advisers of the USAEU-FFW. If the University community will
draw the proper lessons from this sorry chapter in the history of the
USAEU-FFW, then all has not been in vain. This Official Statement of the
University of San Agustin is being issued for the information and guidance of
its personnel, students, alumni and the general public. THE ADMINISTRATION UNIVERSITY OF SAN AGUSTIN ILOILO CITY 24 JULY 2006 |
