Samsung execs cleared by DoJ

The Department of Justice has dismissed the complaint for syndicated and large scale illegal recruitment, estafa and theft filed against executives of Samsung Electronics Philippines Corp. (Sepco) for allegedly pirating some 700 personnel of a Filipino manpower agency.

In a 51-page resolution, Assistant State Prosecutor Natilaine Salvilla found no probable cause to hold Samsung executives liable for the charges filed by complainant Vivian Anastacio-Guerrero of Temps and Staffers Inc. (TSI), a Filipino manpower agency that had provided promo-merchandisers and office-based personnel to Sepco.

The feud between TSI and Sepco was sparked by Sepco’s decision to change its business model and choose another manpower provider.

Cleared of criminal charges were Sepco’s Kyung Chull Park, president and chief executive officer; Boem Hee Lee, chief finance officer, and other Filipino officials in charge of the company’s mobile phone business unit, corporate affairs, human resources, marketing, promotion and regional branches.

Sepco, a subsidiary of the South Korea-based multinational company Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., is engaged in the marketing and distribution of consumer electronic products televisions, home appliances, air conditioning system, mobile phones, and information technology products.

The DoJ also ordered similar charges dropped against Hae Kyong Kim of SD Human Tech, which TSI had accused of facilitating the absorption or pirating of TSI’s 700 employees.

Salvilla ruled that Sepco and the manpower provider SD Human Tech cannot be held liable for syndicated and large scale illegal recruitment under Article 34 of the Labor Code because the complainant failed to establish that any of the officers or employees of Sepco “personally induced or attempted to induce any one of the employees of TSI to quit their employment.”

Even if the TSI employees were recruited to transfer to other manpower agencies before their contracts with TSI ended, it was clear that the offered employment was to take effect after their contract with TSI had expired, the prosecutor said.

The prosecutor also noted that TSI failed to present a single piece of evidence to establish that the firm still had the right over the employees after the termination of their contracts of employment.

“Likewise, complainant failed to consider that those employees are human beings and not commodities. They have their own rights and privileges. One of them is the right to choose their own employment offered to them by TSI or other manpower agencies after the end of their contract with TSI,” Salvilla said.

The prosecutor also also pointed out that Guerrero’s claim that Sepco favored the transfer of TSI employees to SD Human Tech was unlikely, adding that evidence would show that Sepco officials had contacted other manpower agencies to look for employees. Jerome Aning