COMPLAINT DISMISSED. Passengers board Vallacar Transit Inc.’s Ceres Liner bus at the Bacolod North Terminal. The National Labor Relations Commission in Bacolod City has dismissed the complaint of unfair labor practice filed by one of the owners, Roy Yanson, against the bus company’s four union leaders. (PNA Bacolod file photo)
BACOLOD CITY -- The National Labor Relations Commission (NLRC) here has dismissed the complaint of unfair labor practice filed by one of the owners of Vallacar Transit Inc. (VTI) against the bus company’s four union leaders.
Labor arbiter Ivanhoe Rojo of the Regional Arbitration Branch 6 granted the motion to dismiss the case against the respondents in his four-page order dated September 10, copies of which were provided to reporters here on Thursday. “We find merit to the motion of the respondents,” he said.
The complaint, which also included a prayer for the issuance of a temporary restraining order, was filed by VTI and owner Roy Yanson against the ranking officers of the Philippine Agricultural, Commercial and Industrial Workers Union-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (PACIWU-TUCP) on July 17.
Named respondents were PACIWU Vallacar Transit Chapter president Franny Santarin, executive vice president Rey de la Torre, and board members Juvy Diama, and Raymond Roldan.
Yanson alleged that the four committed serious unfair labor practices aimed at destabilizing the operations of Vallacar Transit in Bacolod last July 14.
He said that the four entered the Ceres Bacolod North Terminal around 3 p.m. and “tried to coerce several of their bus drivers and conductors to disrupt bus services for more than three hours”.
The incident took place a week after Roy was voted by his three siblings as president of VTI after ousting their younger brother, Leo Rey.
“The fake strike aims to impugn the authority of the bus management and create an impression that employees are not supporting the new management,” Roy said.
In the order, Rojo said that labor arbiters no longer have the authority to issue writs of preliminary injunction and/or temporary restraining orders, and their role is only limited to reception of evidence as may be delegated by the NLRC.
He also noted that although Vallacar Transit was named as complainant, Yanson did not have a verified certification attesting that he is authorized by the corporation and a board certification granting him such authority.
Moreover, Yanson did not have a certification against forum shopping and filed the complaint without going through the mandatory conciliation-mediation proceedings, Rojo added.
Vallacar Transit, with main headquarters in Barangay Mansilingan here, is the main subsidiary of the Yanson Group of Bus Companies, the country’s biggest bus operator, with a fleet of 4,000 buses and 18,000 employees.
Meanwhile, the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 45 here earlier dismissed for lack of merit the petition for injunction filed by Roy and his siblings Emily, Ma. Lourdes Celina, and Ricardo Jr. to stop Leo Rey from continuing to act as VTI president.
“The filing of the instant petition squarely falls under the definition of forum shopping,” said Presiding Judge Phoebe Gargantiel-Balbin in her order dated September 24.
The judge pointed out that two commercial cases are related to the case, considering that it has the same parties, and the same issues, pending before RTC Branch 53, the designated commercial court, under Acting Presiding Judge Eduardo Sayson. (PNA)
