Napocor starts settling P34.7 billion back wages of former employees

Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star) - February 12, 2021 - 12:00am
https://www.philstar.com/business/2021/02/12/2077067/napocor-starts-settling-p347-billion-back-wages-former-employees

MANILA, Philippines — State-run National Power Corp. has started settling back wages of former employees amounting to P34.7 billion, 17 years after they were retrenched due to the implementation of Republic Act 9136 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (EPIRA).

This follows the 2017 Supreme Court en banc resolution and the Commission on Audit (COA) decision issued in 2019.

“The long wait for the claimants has finally ended. The 17–year wait for the claimants saw a long legal and procedural battle with the state-corporation who naturally had to defend and protect itself from the suit,” Napocor president and CEO Pio Benavidez said.

“It, unfortunately, created rifts and strained relations between Napocor and its former employees who are still considered a valued part of NPC’s 84-year existence,” he said.

Benavidez said payment of claims shall be on an alphabetical basis according to the batches as validated by COA.

“The claimants or their authorized representatives shall be informed when they are to proceed to the Napocor cashier’s office to claim their checks. This is to ensure orderly distribution of payments and that the necessary health protocols are observed to prevent the transmission of COVID-19,” he said.

When EPIRA was implemented, thousands of Napocor employees were separated from service and were paid with separation benefits equivalent to 1.5 month of pay per year of service.

Majority of these employees were rehired by Napocor, National Transmission Corp. and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. However, around 1,763 employees were not reinstated.

Employees who were not rehired included members of the Drivers and Mechanics Association who contested and filed a case before the court questioning Napocor’s board resolutions 2002-124 and 2002-125, being signed only by three duly constituted directors of the board, and the rest by their respective official alternates.

In 2006, the high court declared the NP board resolutions void on the ground that department secretaries who are members of the National Power board could not delegate their duties to their official alternates.

In an en banc resolution dated Nov.21, 2017, the Supreme Court ordered the payment of back wages of more than 8,000 employees totaling to P34.7 billion.

Napocor said it would abide by the decision but requested to verify the accuracy of the number of employees affected.

It was on Sept. 23, 2019 when COA authorized Napocor to release the claims to certified rightful employees.

The corporation also coordinated with the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Government Service Insurance Corp. (GSIS) to make accurate computations on taxes and contributions.

“We have high hopes that the payment of these claims would start to heal the wounds between the parties and unite the Napocor community, past and present,” Benavidez said.