Party-list bet faces estafa raps
A FORMER Philippine Airlines employee has accused a party-list nominee of the militant Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) and other former officers of the airline’s union of duping fellow workers, who were separated under the flag carrier’s outsourcing program, of an estimated P30 million.
In a complaint-affidavit filed before the Pasay City Prosecutors Office, Regidor Darole, who worked as a technician at PAL’s maintenance and planning division, accused erstwhile Palea officers led by its former president and current PM vice chairman, Gerardo “Gerry” Rivera, of defrauding him and close to 600 other fellow workers of more than P50,000 each allegedly in exchange for their reinstatement as a PAL employees.
Darole claimed that he and his coworkers were made to believe by Rivera and his fellow union officers that they would get back their jobs after the airline outsourced its three non-core businesses—in-flight catering, airport service and call center reservation.
Other respondents were Alnem Alfredo Varona, Pretencio Ambrocio Palad, Alfred Ramiso, Ramon Patrick Salud, Epifanio Bagsic, Emmanuel Gan, Renato Rivera, Arthur Apostol, Alan Mindo and Eugene Soriano, all former officers of the Palea.
They were charged with estafa or in violation of Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code.
Darole said they were assured by Rivera’s group that they would be reinstated to their former positions under a purported settlement agreement between the union and PAL management then under San Miguel president Ramon Ang.
This was the message, Darole claimed, relayed to the affected employees of the outsourcing program during the Palea general assembly on Nov. 8, 2013, at the PAL In-flight Center in Pasay City.
Darole said the respondents urged them to agree to the settlement because they would be reinstated after getting their separation pay.
He added he was able to secure a copy of the settlement agreement only in September this year 2015, where it was confirmed that the supposed reinstatement was not among those PAL agreed upon.
