SolGen: SC prevented big damage to economy

Acting Solicitor General Florin Hilbay. Screengrab from https://law.upd.edu.ph

MANILA, Philippines–The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) on Wednesday welcomed the Supreme Court’s ruling suspending its earlier order for National Power Corp. (Napocor) and Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) to pay P62 billion in back wages to retrenched NPC employees, saying such hefty payout would have imperiled the power sector, the economy and consumers.

Acting Solicitor General Florin Hilbay said the Supreme Court resolution prevented “the infliction of unimaginable damage to NPC [Napocor] and PSALM, which in turn shall have ramifications on the economy and the consumers.”

Hilbay also called on the high court to tackle the case en banc, as the OSG had manifested last month, asking the court’s Special Third Division to refer the matter to the full court.

“We hope that eventually the Supreme Court will hear the case en banc, as is presently required by its own internal rules,” he told the Inquirer.

On Tuesday, the court’s Special Third Division decided to put on hold its Sept. 26, 2006, order for the Quezon City Regional Trial Court to execute the garnishment of Napocor and PSALM assets to cover the payout of back wages and damages to employees—represented by the NPC Drivers and Mechanics Association (Dama)—who were laid off on Jan. 31, 2003, as part of the power sector’s privatization.

The high court said the move was aimed at identifying “who are entitled to be paid… and how much each is entitled to be paid.”

In a manifestation and motion filed on Aug. 22, the OSG, which represents Napocor in the case, underscored the potentially damaging impact that the settlement would have on the country.

The OSG pleading asked the high court to permanently stop the execution of the 2006 court decision, to reverse court resolutions that enforced the ruling and, ultimately, dismiss the petition.

“The judgment claim… will bankrupt NPC and PSALM and put our electric industry in peril, with unimaginable related consequences to various sectors of the economy. This is no exaggeration,” warned the manifestation filed more than two weeks ago.

The OSG noted that the claim against public funds would cause “a huge financial impact on businesses invested in power and the government, which operates only on a P1.6-trillion programmed budget for 2014 for the entire country.”

It said the sizeable claim and “its impact on the country’s limited funds cannot be overemphasized.”

“The sheer magnitude of the public money at stake and the imminent prejudice to the public should at least warrant due consideration by the court en banc,” the OSG said in its pleading.